Olmert Will Face Corruption Charges

Ex-Israeli PM convinced in court he'll 'be able to prove his innocence once and for all'

(NEWSER) - Israel’s attorney general has officially indicted former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on corruption charges, the BBC reports. The 61-page charge, filed in court today, accuses Olmert of "fraud, breach of trust, registering false corporate documents, and concealing fraudulent earnings.” Olmert denies all the charges, which relate to three different cases in Olmert’s political life before he became prime minister. More»

(NEWSER) - Israeli police have recommended the indictment of the country's foreign minister for bribery, money laundering, and other corruption charges, Haaretz reports. Avigdor Lieberman, who leads the ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party and was kingmaker in February's closely-run election, has been under investigation for years and is accused of funneling cash to a chain of front companies and bank accounts even after he became a minister. If charged and convicted he faces 31 years in jail. More»

Counts date back to time as mayor of Jerusalem

(NEWSER) - Things got worse for Ehud Olmert today, as the former Israeli prime minister was indicted on charges related to bribes he allegedly took back when he was mayor of Jerusalem. Olmert is already on trial for three unrelated counts, but the new charges are the most serious: He’s accused of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars to facilitate the construction of a massive Jerusalem housing complex widely known as "the monster," the New York Times reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Besieged Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is “a national joke,” Michael Wolff writes in Vanity Fair. He’s also immensely popular. In the midst of his most recent sex scandal, he and his party were handily reelected. What’s the deal? To begin with, “he controls his country’s dominant political party, its primary television networks, and its government.” So what if he's an incorrigible Lothario—"a dime-store Sinatra”—whose wife airs their dirty laundry and seeks divorce? More»

He may remain as 'caretaker' PM for weeks or months

(NEWSER) - Scandal-plagued Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced today that he will step down. "This was not an easy decision," he said. Olmert, who faces criminal corruption charges, must now submit his resignation to President Shimon Peres, but he may remain as a caretaker prime minister for weeks or even months as a new government is formed, Reuters reports. Olmert's likely successor will be Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who has replaced him as Kadima party leader. More»