FORMER ISRAELI prime minister Ehud Olmert has gone on trial on corruption charges, vowing to prove his innocence.
Before the start of yesterday’s arraignment at the Jerusalem district court, Mr Olmert told journalists he had suffered “an almost inhumane three years of slander and interrogations”.
However, he promised to campaign until he was acquitted.
“The time has come for the facts and the facts only,” he said. “I have arrived here as a completely innocent man and I believe I’ll leave here a completely innocent man.”
Mr Olmert, who turns 64 next week, is the first sitting or former prime minister in Israel to face criminal charges in court. He resigned a year ago, but stayed on as caretaker prime minister until elections in March.
The court decided to begin hearing testimony in February, holding three sessions a week. The trial is expected to take many months, or even years, to complete.
The 61-page indictment includes no fewer than 280 witnesses.
In December, the court will reconvene to hear a defence request for access to all the documents held by the prosecution, some of which are classified.
Only after this will Mr Olmert, who has denied any wrongdoing, formally enter a plea on the charges of fraud, breach of trust, registering false documents and concealing fraudulent earnings.
All the charges relate to three separate events when Mr Olmert served as Jerusalem mayor and trade minister, before he became prime minister in 2006.
In the Rishontours affair, Mr Olmert is suspected of double- or triple-billing government ministries and various Jewish charities for trips abroad, during which he combined official business and charity speaking engagements.
Police suspect he made more than €77,000, and used the money to purchase flights for himself and family members.
In the Talansky affair, he is suspected of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars, some of it in cash-stuffed envelopes, from American-Jewish businessman Morris Talansky and, in return, helping him in business ventures.
The final affair, dubbed the investment centre affair, relates to allegations that Mr Olmert granted favours to a former law partner during dealings with the centre while he was trade minister.
The former prime minister, who faces up to five years in prison on each of the charges, has hired some of Israel’s top lawyers to clear his name.
Israeli courts have recently clamped down on rampant corruption, sending two former ministers to jail in June. In addition, former president Moshe Katsav is on trial, charged with rape and sexual harassment.