For someone like Ehud Olmert, controversy is hard to leave behind. The Israeli Prime Minister has been in the eye of a storm since last year’s doomed and inconclusive war between Israel and Lebanon over the capture of three Israeli soldiers by the Lebanese guerilla group Hizbollah.
He has hardly been able to convince everyone that Israel didn’t lose the war and has also tried to underplay the consequences of the war but now the PM is trapped in one more scam.
Bank Leumi is the second largest bank in Israel and a distinct suspicion that Mr. Olmert tried to interfere in the selling of the bank in 2005 has reared its ugly head. Olmert has been in the political arena for the last three decades but with the passage of years, allegations of corruption have also multiplied.
In 2005, Mr. Olmert was the Finance Minister and the Israeli police are investigating whether he tried to rig the government’s sale of the bank in favour of two associates, one Australian and the other American.
The 5-hour questioning of Mr. Olmert on Tuesday is not only a humiliation to the Prime Minister but also comes at a critical time in his political career. There are still a few voices calling for his resignation over last July’s war in Lebanon and then there is the eternal dispute with the Palestinians. Mr. Olmert’s popularity though remains moderately high even after this latest corruption scandal to have hit the Israeli leader. But that day is not far when Mr. Olmert sees red and has to bow out of his office.
Image Source: MSNCBC
Source: Washington Post
