Olmert makes final appeal to avoid jail in Talansky case

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert makes a final appeal to the Supreme Court in in his appeal of the Talansky case. He is appealing an eight month jail sentence for receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from New York businessman Moshe Talansky.

“I served the country for decades without taking a penny for myself,” Ynet says Olmert told the court.

“I gave every day and night to the service of the State of Israel.”

Olmert had been sentenced in May 2014 to six years in prison on two separate charges of taking bribes in the early 2000s in connection with the construction of Jerusalem’s massive Holyland residential complex. In December the Supreme Court reduced his sentence to 18 months in prison and acquitted him of one of the charges.

Israel Radio reports Olmert struck a deal Monday with the prosecution to avoid another jail term

The report says Olmert’s lawyer reached the agreement on behalf of the 70-year-old with the prosecutor general who had accused Olmert of obstructing justice. The prosecutor agrees to Olmert concurrently serving six months for obstructing justice with his 18-month sentence for corruption.

Olmert had been sentenced in May 2014 to six years in prison on two separate charges of taking bribes in the early 2000s in connection with the construction of Jerusalem’s massive Holyland residential complex. But in December the Supreme Court reduced his sentence to 18 months in prison and acquitted him of one of the charges.