Police seeking to keep Olmert material seized in publisher raid — report

Police are seeking permission to retain materials it seized during a raid on the Yedioth Books publishing house as part of its preliminary investigation into whether jailed former prime minister Ehud Olmert committed a criminal offense by divulging classified information in his memoirs, bypassing the military censor.

Last month, one of Olmert’s attorneys was allegedly caught by prison officers with classified material belonging to the former prime minister after a visit to his jail cell. During a search of the cell, security officers found additional classified documents.

Police last week raided the Rishon LeZion publisher and confiscated pages from Olmert’s memoirs in search of classified information.

The Justice Ministry later said police would return the material to Yedioth Books by tomorrow, but according to Channel 2, police are seeking an extension to the deadline citing the discovery of additional classified information.