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Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem September 7, 2008. [Xinhua/Reuters Photo]
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Israeli police recommended on Sunday evening that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert should be indicted in two corruption cases.
Micky Rosenfeld, spokesman for Israeli police, told Xinhua that the police has recommended that the premier should be charged with bribery, the most severe charge he faced, fraud, breach of trust and a string of other charges.
The decision was made after a five-hour meeting over the premier's probes on Sunday afternoon. Maj. Gen. Yohanan Danino, the head of the Israel Police's Investigations and Intelligence Division, held the meeting with the heads of the police teams investigating the premier to seek a final decision over whether to indict Olmert.
According to a formal statement issued by the Israeli police on Sunday evening, the police recommended to indict Olmert over the Rishon tours and Morris Talansky cash affairs.
But regarding another case over the Investment Center affair, police have yet to put forward a final recommendation because further investigation is required.
The police are set to give their recommendations to the State Attorney's Office. Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz and State-Attorney Moshe Lador will review the case material before making a decision on whether to charge the prime minister.
The two cases
Olmer is currently being investigated in a total of six cases of alleged corruption. However, police finally recommended to indict Olmert over two cases.
One case focuses on Morris Talansky, a 76-year-old American Jewish businessman who was testified of giving Olmert 150,000 US dollars in cash over a 10-year period to help him in four election campaigns, including two Jerusalem mayoralty campaigns and two primaries of the Likud party.
In addition, Talansky allegedly gave Olmert tens of thousands of dollars contributed by American Jews who attended campaign dinners, in part financing Olmert a luxurious lifestyle of expensive hotels and upgrading his flight tickets.
During a pre-trial testimony on May 27, Talansky was also questioned about the possibility that he had given Olmert more than 200,000 dollars to cover debts from Olmert's 1998 Jerusalem mayoralty campaign.
