Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was sentenced to six years
in prison on Tuesday for his conviction on two counts of bribery in the Holyland
corruption case.
Tel Aviv District Court Judge David Rozen read out Olmert's
sentence on Tuesday morning and fined him 1 million shekels ($290,000). In
March, Olmert was found guilty of accepting bribes when he served as mayor of
Jerusalem, in exchange for helping the developers of the city's Holyland Park
residential project.
"A public servant who accepts bribes is equivalent to a
traitor," Rozen said in his opening statements.
Ahead of the sentencing, Rozen praised Olmert and said he is
"an impressive and very intelligent man who knows how to convince others.
He is a respectful man who made a large contribution to the country."
However, he condemned Olmert's offenses and described them as
"noxious,"adding that "Olmert's crime is of moral
turpitude."
"Olmert took advantage of his position as a public
servant, and accepted massive amounts of money, as detailed in the
conviction," Rozen said. "This is a man who was on top of the world –
he served as prime minister, the most important position, and from there he
reached the position of a man convicted of criminal offenses."
Olmert, ahead of the sentencing on Tuesday morning, released
a statement: "This is a sad day in which an unjust and severe sentence is
expected to be handed down on an innocent man."
Olmert had denied wrongdoing in the Holyland apartment
complex deal, as well as other corruption allegations that forced his resignation
as premier in 2008.
The maximum sentence handed down for comparable bribery
offenses is a seven-year prison term. The prosecution was seeking at least six
years for Olmert.
The ruling related to seven of the 10 individuals convicted
in the Holyland case, which concerns bribe-taking in the development of
Jerusalem’s controversial residential project: Those who bribed – Hillel
Cherney, Avigdor Kellner, Meir Rabin and Danny Dankner – as well as those who
took the bribes – Uri Shitreet, Ehud Olmert and Eli Simhayoff.
Cherney, owner of the Holyland complex, who was convicted of
bribing Jerusalem officials, received three and a half years in prison and a
fine of 2 million shekels. Kellner, one of the founders of "Holyland
Park" company, who was convicted of bribery charges but acquitted of other
offenses, was sentenced to three years in prison and fined 1 million shekels.
Rabin, right-hand man to state witness Shmuel Dechner, who
was also convicted of bribing Jerusalem officials, was sentenced to five years
in prison. Shitreet, Jerusalem's former chief engineer, who was convicted of
receiving bribes, was sentenced to seven years in prison.
The prosecution asked Rozen to sentence Olmert to five to
seven years in prison for accepting a 500,000-shekel ($144,000) bribe on behalf
of his brother, and two to four years in prison for taking some 60,000 shekels
($17,000) in bribes to cover his personal expenses. The prosecution said there
could be some overlap between the sentences.
“The defendant is not a symbol,” prosecutor Yonatan Tadmor
said, quoting from the judgement in the case against former president Moshe
Katsav, who is in prison for rape and other sex crimes. “The fact that the
defendant served in the highest position does not serve as immunity for him in
the face of punishment as for all people. The opposite.”
HAARETZ.COM
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