By Xinhua,
Beijing : A U.S. businessman at the center of a bribery case against Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert testified on Tuesday he gave Olmert cash-stuffed envelopes but didn’t expect any favors in return.
Police are investigating whether Olmert illicitly took up to 500,000 U.S. dollars in cash from New York-based millionaire Morris Talansky before becoming prime minister in 2006.
Olmert says the funds were legal campaign contributions, but police suspect they were either illegal contributions or bribery.
In a Jerusalem court Tuesday, Talansky speculated that some of the money went to fund Olmert’s fondness for fine hotels, first-class flights and luxury goods.
Talansky told the court that most of the money he turned over at meetings in New York and Jerusalem was to cover Olmert’s political activities over a 15-year period. But he also said Olmert’s assistant, Shula Zaken, would often ask for cash to cover unidentified personal expenses.
Talansky, 75, said there were no records of how that money was spent. “I only know that he loved expensive cigars. I know he loved pens, watches. I found it strange,” Talansky told the court, then shrugged.
During the questioning, Talansky said much of the money was raised in New York “parlor meetings,” where Olmert would address American donors who would then leave contributions on their chairs.
Talansky said about 100,000 dollars was given to Olmert. It was unclear how much of this was his own money, though he said at one point he used his personal credit card to pay a hotel bill.
The donations took place before and during Olmert’s 10-year tenure as Jerusalem mayor, which ended in 2003, and his subsequent years as trade minister. Olmert became prime minister in early 2006.