Ehud Olmert: Corruption allegations

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was plagued during his three years in office by a string of corruption scandals, which played a major part in his eventual resignation. In August 2009, he was indicted in three of the main cases. Police have closed two others. Mr Olmert denies all wrongdoing and says he his confident he will prove his innocence in court.

TALANSKY CASE - OLMERT CHARGED

Mr Olmert has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and concealing fraudulent earnings in connection with donations received from the a New York-based financier, Morris (or Moshe) Talansky between 1997 and 2005.

Olmert denies corruption allegations but says he will resign if charged

Mr Talansky has testified that he handed over cash to Mr Olmert amounting to $150,000 to fund political campaigns, as well as - he hinted - a liking for fine hotels, cigars, pens and watches.

Mr Olmert admits taking money, but says it was legal donations to fund his campaigns for re-election as mayor of Jerusalem and for the leadership of the Likud party.

In the charge sheet, prosecutors say Mr Olmert failed to declare the funds. They say he received at least $600,000 in total, some in cash, some as bank transfers.

Prosecutors say up to $350,000 of this was held in a "secret cache" managed by a close associate of Mr Olmert's, Uri Messer, who is also named in connection with the Investment Center case (see below).

They also say he used his official capacity as Minister of Trade and Industry to facilitate introductions - sometimes with official letterheads - with hotel managers for Mr Talanksy, a partner in a firm providing mini-bars for hotels.

The charge sheet says Mr Olmert did so while aware he was in an "acute conflict of interest".

"I never took bribes, I never took a penny for myself," Mr Olmert has said in connection with the case.

He has said Mr Messer handled the funds lawfully, while Mr Messer's lawyer said the police were "mistaken" when they made the initial allegations.

RISHON TOURS - OLMERT CHARGED

Mr Olmert has been charged with concealing fraudulent earnings, fraud, breach of trust, fraudulent tax evasion and fraudulent registration of corporate documents in connection with claims that he over-billed the Israeli state and Jewish charities for trips abroad.

The charge sheet says he and his aide Shula Zaken "developed a fraud system" using false documents, through which he gained $92,164.

The charge sheet says this included asking each of a number of organisations to fund the same trip, and falsifying elements of itineraries.

The state and the organisations "paid surplus funds for the purchase of air travel for the defendant, in a manner which left in his hands substantial financial surplus, that served him and his family to finance private flights and to upgrade his flights to first class", the charge sheet says.

Organisations billed in this way included Akim, a charity which helps disabled people, the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre, and March of the Living, which takes Jewish teenagers to visit the Nazi death camp sites, prosecutors say.

Mr Olmert's lawyers said the attorney general's decision to back indictment in the case was "puzzling and unreasonable", and that some of the details and allegations were not raised when the former prime minister was questioned.

A lawyer representing Ms Zaken, who is indicted on several of the same charges as Mr Olmert, said she had no comment on the allegations.

INVESTMENT CENTER - OLMERT CHARGED

Mr Olmert has been charged with fraud and breach of trust in connection with claims regarding his conduct as Minister of Trade and Industry.

Prosecutors say Mr Olmert knowingly placed himself in a situation where he faced an "acute conflict of interest" by dealing personally with issues involving business figures represented by lawyer Uri Messer, a friend and former business partner.

These related particularly to the Ministry of Trade and Industry, including projects handled by the Investments' Center, a ministry-run body.

Mr Olmert held some meetings directly with Mr Messer and his clients, and changed some decisions made by the ministry in their favour, the charge sheet says.

It lists four examples - one of which was the reversal of the lowering of a tariff on oil imports during a period when Mr Messer was representing a major Israeli producer of oil products.

Mr Messer has said that his dealings with the industry ministry were "routine" and "businesslike".

When the state comptroller published a report on the allegations in this and the political appointments case in 2007, a spokeswoman for Mr Olmert accused him of unprecedented unprofessionalism and duplicity.

POLITICAL APPOINTMENTS - CHARGES RECOMMENDED

In October 2007, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz ordered a police investigation into allegations that Mr Olmert, when he held the jobs of trade minister, communications minister and finance minister, had improperly appointed associates from the Likud party to posts on government bodies.

The investigation was completed in July 2009. Police concluded that there was a basis to indict Mr Olmert and others for fraud and breach of trust.

The findings have been submitted to Mr Mazuz, who will decide whether Mr Olmert should be indicted.

An adviser to Mr Olmert accused the police and prosecutors of "petty and inappropriate score-settling" and creating "media spin" when the announcement of their conclusions coincided with the closing of the Cremieux Street investigation (see below).

BANK LEUMI - CASE CLOSED

In November, police said there were no grounds to lay charges against Mr Olmert in connection with the privatisation of Bank Leumi - Israel's second largest bank - while he was finance minister in 2005; it had been alleged he tried to influence the sale of the state's controlling interest in the bank in favour of a friend.

CREMIEUX STREET - CASE CLOSED

Israel's attorney general decided in August 2009 to close a criminal investigation by police into Mr Olmert's purchase of a Jerusalem property in 2004, in which he paid $325,000 (£162,500) below market value.

The investigation was closed due to lack of evidence. The prime minister has insisted the price was fair and the inquiry (into whether he had received a discount for speeding up a property development project) was "uncalled for".

The case was known as the Cremieux Street affair after the address of the property.