JERUSALEM — Describing his fall as “painful and strange,” Ehud Olmert became on Monday the first former Israeli prime minister to enter prison, beginning a 19-month term for bribery and obstruction of justice.

In a video released by his office shortly before the armored car carrying him swept through the prison gates, Mr. Olmert, who was convicted in 2014, acknowledged that he had “made mistakes,” but he insisted that he had done nothing criminal.

“At this time, I want to say again what I said inside the court and outside: that I categorically deny the charges relating to bribery attributed to me,” Mr. Olmert, 70, said.

Looking somber and fatigued as he described his transformation from leader to convicted prisoner, he said: “I accept the sentence with a very heavy heart. Nobody stands above the law.”

Ehud Olmert’s Sentence in Bribery Case Is Cut to 18 MonthsDEC. 29, 2015
Other high-ranking Israelis have been convicted of crimes, including a former Israeli president, Moshe Katsav, who is serving a seven-year sentence for rape, an interior minister convicted of bribery and a finance minister convicted of embezzlement.

Israeli television broadcast live coverage of Mr. Olmert’s arrival at Maasiyahu Prison, southeast of Tel Aviv. According to prison regulations, he was permitted, like other prisoners, to take with him four pairs of underwear, four pairs of socks, two towels, bedding and toiletries, among other items.

Mr. Olmert’s legal troubles began in 2008, two years after he took office, and he was forced to resign under a growing cloud of suspicion and police investigations. He was convicted of taking bribes while he was mayor of Jerusalem, in part to facilitate the construction of a large housing complex known as Holyland, despite fierce local opposition.

In late December, the Israeli Supreme Court reduced his six-year prison sentence to 18 months after overturning the main part of his conviction on bribery charges. It upheld, however, his conviction in a lesser bribery case that was unrelated to the housing project.

Last week, a Jerusalem magistrate’s court extended Mr. Olmert’s sentence by a month after rejecting the terms of a plea bargain in an obstruction-of-justice case.

Mr. Olmert was also sentenced in May to eight months in prison for fraud and breach of trust, in a separate case involving an American businessman, Morris Talansky. The start of that term was postponed pending an appeal, and Mr. Olmert’s lawyers have been examining the possibility of any sentence being served concurrently with Mr. Olmert’s current prison term.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/16/world/middleeast/ehud-olmert-israel-prison.html?_r=0




A very good lesson for the GEJ groupies and the so called Nigerian jews from the lost tribe of Israel.


Crooks and corrupt former leaders in Israel do go to jail because their's something called law and order in Israel regardless your position in the society...

How can someone open a thread and insert his comment instead of taking up a space and spew his gibberish ..

Oh, I forgot its a thread opened by a well known acknowledged resident NL tribalist ..

Since the thread is about GEJ and the *Jews; Buhari should hasten up to put GEJ inside kirikiri or watch helplessly as international communities shower him with encomiums ..

dunkem21:
How can someone open a thread and insert his comment instead of taking up a space and spew his gibberish ..

Oh, I forgot its a thread opened by a well known acknowledged resident NL tribalist ..

Since the thread is about GEJ and the *Jews; Buhari should hasten up to put GEJ inside kirikiri or watch helplessly as international communities shower him with encomiums ..

Tribalist?That's a bit tad.You could have easily make your comment without the childish utterance

themilanway:


Tribalist?That's a bit tad.You could have easily make your comment without the childish utterance

That was guilty conscience on his part...

In Nigeria someone who forged WAEC statement of result is our president!! What an irony!!

Jonathan would be the first Nigerian soon.

When will our former presithieves start a jail term in kirikiri?

decatalyst:
When will our former presithieves start a jail term in kirikiri?

I hope and pray very soon. Sounds like Metuh is going to bite the dust first..

themilanway:


Tribalist?That's a bit tad.You could have easily make your comment without the childish utterance

Sorry arresa ..

..no need to add the *Jews and * the lost tribe of Isreal here ..