State officially closes graft probe into former PM Barak
Corrupt ex-PM Ehud Olmert had accused Barak of making tens of millions of dollars in bribes off arms sales
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Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein announced Thursday he had closed a graft probe into former prime minister Ehud Barak due to lack of evidence.
The move is in line with recommendations from the Israel Police’s Lahav 433 anti-corruption unit and the state prosecutor, Weinstein’s office said. Last week Weinstein indicated he would close the probe following a review of the case.
The allegations against Barak, which surfaced in 2014, were leveled by former prime minister Ehud Olmert in a conversation secretly recorded by his then-aide Shula Zaken in 2011. Olmert claimed Barak had pocketed tens of millions of dollars in bribes skimmed off Israeli arms sales.
Olmert was one of eight former officials and businessmen convicted in March 2014 in a real estate corruption case known as the Holyland affair, which officials have characterized as the largest in Israel’s history. He will start an 18-month jail term next month.
Barak, Olmert said in the recorded conversation, “took millions, tens of millions of dollars in bribes. There was no arms deal done by Israel [that was not affected]. Everybody is talking about it.”
Barak, who also served as defense minister during part of Olmert’s 2006-9 term as prime minister, was a key figure in pushing Olmert to resign the premiership as corruption allegations massed against him.
While the Supreme Court last month struck down the main bribery conviction for Olmert’s part in the Holyland scandal, the justices upheld a more minor bribery conviction in the case, reducing Olmert’s sentence from six years to 18 months. He and others whose convictions were upheld in the case are set to begin serving their sentences on February 15.
He will be the first Israeli prime minister to serve a prison sentence.
Next week, Olmert is set to appeal a bribery conviction in a separate case. He was found guilty of accepting envelopes full of cash from American businessman and fundraiser Morris Talansky in exchange for political favors during Olmert’s decade-long stint as mayor of Jerusalem. That conviction earned him an eight-month prison sentence, which he has not yet served.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.