Nearly two years after the "Holyland" affair was first exposed and became Israel's biggest corruption scandal of all time, the prosecution in the real-estate bribery case on Thursday filed serious charges against 13 defendants, including former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, on charges of accepting bribes. The extensive indictment submitted to the Tel Aviv District Court on Thursday deals with three separate graft cases, but they are all interconnected: the Holyland affair, the Israel Salt Industries land case and the Hazera Genetics Ltd. case. All three deal with the advancement of real-estate projects across the country through the removal of zoning obstacles, primarily within the Jerusalem Municipality and the Israel Land Administration. The real-estate projects were pushed through using extensive bribery on an unprecedented scale of several millions of shekels In a statement, the prosecution stressed that "the severity of the indictment does not derive solely from its scale but also from the fact that it does not concern a single public official who transgressed, but a large number of employees and elected officials, including Jerusalem city councilors, the city engineer, two heads of the Jerusalem Municipality, the manager of the Israel Lands Administration, the industry, trade and labor minister and the head of his office." The prosecution sought to have a panel of three judges hear the case and noted in its request that "the indictment and the rulings that will determine it may have public and legal implications that are significant and far-reaching." Tel Aviv District Court President Dvora Berliner granted the defense attorneys a week to respond to the request. The indictment centers on the story of what was formerly the "Holyland Hotel," which became the site a large construction project. By means of four plans that were advanced and approved in the span of a decade -- with the help of the accused -- the hotel was transformed into a residential neighborhood with huge potential for future expansion. The relationship between its main real estate developer, Hillel Cherny, and public officials continued "systematically and over time, during which the real-estate developers provided for the financial needs of the public employees and their relatives ... In exchange, [the public officials] worked to remove any obstacles and opposition [to the project], significantly shorten time lines, substantially increase the percentage of land designated for construction, make zoning changes, and lower construction debt and taxes." The first charge, dealing with the Holyland affair, alleged that real-estate developer Cherny, along with a state witness and Jerusalem entrepreneur Meir Rabin, gave "occasional financial gifts worth millions of shekels to a long list of public employees and officials in the Jerusalem Municipality." According to the charge, NIS 1.5 million was transferred to Olmert and his former bureau chief Shula Zaken, as per their request, in order to fund election campaign costs and to cover losses incurred during the campaign. Another sum of approximately NIS 1.5 million was transferred to former Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski through contributions to the charity organization Yad Sarah. It was also alleged that Cherny gave Olmert, at the latter's request and by means of a state witness, a sum totalling no more than NIS 500,000, in order to help Olmert's brother Yossi Olmert, who was in dire financial straits. The second charge, dealing with the promotion of the real estate interests of the Hazera corporation, alleged that businessmen Avigdor Kelner and Amnon Safran transferred a total of about NIS 1.7 million to the state witness and to Meir Rabin so they could "pass financial benefits on to public officials and employees." In this case, "Olmert and Zaken took an amount totalling approximately NIS 200,000." The third charge alleged that former Bank Hapoalim chairman Danny Dankner bestowed financial favors on then-manager of the Israel Lands Administration Yaakov Efrati in order to promote the rezoning of salt flats in Atlit and Eilat. The investigation into the Holyland affair was launched after the state witness, whose name has been withheld from publication, contacted the State Prosecutor at his own initiative. He said his reason for revealing this information to the prosecution was that he wanted to avoid being charged with criminal offenses as the result of a civil suit he planned to file against people whom he believed owed him money. The State Prosecutor said that Israel's highest-ranking law enforcement officials felt this corruption case was so serious that it deserved a large investment of resources and warranted signing an agreement with a state witness, allowing him to testify freely. The officials said they gave the state witness material compensation, the details of which have not yet been disclosed, because it was necessary in order to uncover all the facts in the investigation. The case turned out to be the most comprehensive case ever investigated in Israel. Some 150 detectives participated in the investigation, working within a joint special investigation team of the Lahav 433 National Fraud Unit and the Tax Authority, accompanied by a team of attorneys from the Tel Aviv District Attorney's Office. The Israel Anti-Fraud Unit of the police submitted 500 binders to the state prosecutor, containing 600 messages from some 250 witnesses. About 50 people involved in the affair were questioned under caution, and a judicial inquiry was even conducted in the U.S. Olmert adviser: It's all fairy tales In April 2010, the investigation was made public and in August, the case was handed over to the state prosecutor. In the following months, final investigations were conducted and in March 2011, suspects were sent invitations to attend a hearing. The legal proceedings were mostly complete by the end of August 2011. Amir Dan, Olmert's media adviser, said in a statement: "Serving the indictment at precisely this time, while Olmert is already standing trial, and in opposition to the ethics of basic decency, is a scandal in and of itself and we see this as an improper attempt to influence the court at a time when it is faced with making decisions [on Olmert's case]." He added, "The indictment is based on [fairy tales] that were created in the mind of the state witness, and the courts that have discussed his claims already harshly criticized him and his tendency to lie. The man did not even hesitate to hide from the police and prosecutors the fact that he tried to extort various people, who later became suspects based on his testimony. Dan further stated that "the state prosecutor, rather than denouncing this person and deepening the investigation into him, decided to pay him millions just so he can say what he was paid to say. This was done away from the public eye, and even now, after the indictment has been issued, the state prosecutor refuses to reveal to the public the terms of the agreement signed with the state witness." In response to the indictment, Dan stressed, "Olmert has already stated in the clearest way that he never took bribes either directly or indirectly."
Court indicts Olmert on new corruption charges
Investigation into state's biggest corruption scandal ends with indictment against 13 defendants • Olmert is accused of taking bribes from real estate developers, other public officials in the Holyland affair.
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