Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
Jerusalem District Prosecutor Eli Abarbanel at the district court in Jerusalem, in December 2011. Abarbanel called for moral turpitude to be included in the verdict against former PM Ehud Olmer. (photo credit: Yossi Zamir/Flash 90)
The prosecutor in the trial against former prime minister Ehud Olmert called for moral turpitude to be taken into consideration when passing sentence in the breach of trust conviction against the former prime minister.
Olmert was convicted of breach of trust in the most minor of three cases in which a verdict was delivered Tuesday. He was cleared in the two more substantive cases.
A ruling that the crime constituted moral turpitude would have wide-ranging implications for Olmert, forcing him out of politics for seven years if the sentence is coupled with a jail term of three months or more. Many legal analysts said Tuesday, however, that such a sentence was unlikely.
Olmert is expected to be sentenced in September.
Speaking after the judges’ decision was announced on Tuesday, Eli Abarbanel said that although Olmert was acquitted of the two more serious charges of corruption, the guilty verdict of breach of trust was still a grave matter.
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Jerusalem District Prosecutor Eli Abarbanel at the district court in Jerusalem, in December 2011. Abarbanel called for moral turpitude to be included in the sentence against former PM Ehud Olmert. (photo credit: Yossi Zamir/Flash 90)
“It should not be taken lightly that a man so high up in our public life was found guilty,” Abarbanel said. “The court seriously criticized Mr. Olmert’s behavior.”
The prosecutor added that in his opinion the breach of trust case constituted a matter of moral turpitude.
If the judges consider that the matter constitutes a more minor breach of trust, Olmert could only receive community service.
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