ISRAEL: Olmert questioned by police

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Israeli police questioned Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for five hours today as part of an investigation into whether he sought to improperly influence the privatization of Israel’s second-largest bank in 2005.

The session was a reminder of the legal troubles facing Olmert at a moment when he is in discussions with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas over reviving substantive peace talks.

Police are looking into whether Olmert, then serving as finance minister, tried to fix terms of the government’s controlling interest in the Bank Leumi sale in order to help two associates who were potential bidders. He has said he acted properly. A second round of questioning is scheduled for Thursday.

Israel’s attorney general, Menachem Mazuz, has ordered a separate investigation into Olmert’s purchase of a Jerusalem apartment in 2004. Olmert, unpopular with voters since Israel’s inconclusive war with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon last year, faces allegations of possible corruption in two other cases stemming from a past tenure as trade and industry minister.

But some of the clouds over him may be lifting. Israeli media reported today that the commission investigating the government’s performance during the 2006 Lebanon war won’t blame specific officials when it issues a final report in coming months. That would save Olmert from the possibility of an official call to step down and make it easier to keep his governing coalition intact, at least for now.

— Ken Ellingwood in Jerusalem