Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, who was convicted of bribery in 2014 in Israel's biggest corruption scandal, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after the supreme court upheld his conviction but significantly cut his jail term.
Olmert (70) will begin serving his prison sentence in February, becoming the first Israeli prime minister to go to jail.
Tuesday’s ruling partially overturned Olmert’s conviction and reduced his original sentence from six years to 18 months.
He was convicted in March 2014 of taking bribes, in part to facilitate the construction of a huge housing complex known as Holyland, dubbed “the monster” by Jerusalemites, while he was mayor of Jerusalem.
Olmert was originally convicted on two counts of bribery, based largely on the testimony of state witness Shmuel Dechner, a close associate of the property developers, who said he transferred some €132,000 to the former prime minister in two separate transactions.
Mr Dechner died during the trial, leading to complaints from the defence team that they hadn’t been given the opportunity to complete their cross-examination.
Olmert appealed the verdict, and the supreme court partially overturned the lower court’s decision, saying that the larger of the two transactions – €118,000 – was transferred directly to Olmert’s brother, Yossi, who was struggling financially, casting reasonable doubt on Ehud Olmert’s complicity. The guilty verdict over the second transaction was upheld.
“A heavy weight has been lifted off my shoulders over the supreme court’s decision to acquit me on the main count,” Olmert said, describing the case as a “black cloud” hanging over his family for a long time.
He said he was disappointed with the upheld conviction and maintained he was innocent.
“I was never offered a bribe and I never accepted bribes . . . but I respect the court’s decision,” he said.
Tel Aviv district attorney Liat Ben Ari said that this was not an easy day for the Israeli public, but represented a watershed in the war on public corruption.
“We are proud to live in a country in which everyone is equal before the law.”
The court also reduced Olmert’s suspended prison sentence from two years to one, and significantly reduced the fine he must pay.
When Olmert was sentenced in 2014 the judge said he was guilty of “moral turpitude”, ending any plans for a political comeback.
Olmert, who served as Jerusalem mayor from 1993 to 2003, was forced to resign as prime minister in 2009, amid a flurry of corruption allegations.
In a separate case, Olmert was sentenced earlier this year to eight months in prison for fraud and breach of trust for accepting illegal payments from American Jewish businessman Morris Talansky.
The supreme court is yet to rule on Olmert’s appeal in that case. If the sentence is upheld the court must decide if the prison term will be in addition to or run concurrently with the Holyland jail term.