Let the truth come out
Supreme Court Chief Justice Asher Grunis and his colleagues have had about 18 months to deliberate the state's appeal of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's verdict in the Talansky and Rishon Tours affairs. The fact that no decision has been made has hurt the judiciary in the court of public opinion. Moreover, in the time that has passed since the appeal was filed, some of the main protagonists saw their fortunes turn upside down.
Olmert's former bureau chief Shula Zaken was Olmert's flak jacket until she agreed to become a state witness. Navot Tel-Zur, who defended Olmert in the lower court, has recently come under fire after Zaken released recordings that allegedly show him trying to obstruct justice. Even if he escapes prosecution, the mere publication of the transcripts will not serve him well, to put in mildly.
Meanwhile, the Holyland trial was set to enter its sentencing phase on Monday, with Tel Aviv District Judge David Rozen hearing arguments from both the state and counsel. Olmert initially said he would ask former Mossad chief Meir Dagan and the children of a widow he had helped as prime minister to take the stand and extoll his virtues. But on Sunday, Channel 2's Guy Peleg reported that Olmert had changed his mind. He will make a personal statement and allow his attorney Eli Zohar to plead for leniency on his behalf.
Our court system lets defendants take the stand during the sentencing phase. They have the right to appeal before the judge and make a last-ditch effort to mitigate their sentence. This may sway the judges in their favor and there is nothing wrong with that. This is, after all, why this procedure was introduced in the first place. But no judge is going to spare Olmert the several years behind bars he deserves. He was convicted of serious crimes and he belongs in prison, unless he successfully appeals.
Rozen will announce the sentence in the Holyland Trial after Independence Day. But the Supreme Court justices deliberating the Rishon Tours and Talansky affairs have a much more daunting task. They have to parse the lower court's bifurcated decision. On the one hand, the three-judge panel in the Jerusalem Magistrates' Court found Olmert guilty on four counts of breach of trust related to the Investment Center affair (Olmert was said to be in a conflict of interest for letting his ministry award bids to his friend Uri Messer). But on the other hand they bent over backwards to find reasonable doubt and acquit Olmert of breach of trust and fraud in the Talansky and Rishon Tours affairs. Despite damning evidence suggesting Olmert had received undeclared cash-stuffed envelopes from American businessman Morris Talansky and despite clear-cut information that his bureau ran a double-billing scheme to pay for his overseas airfare, all three judges just shrugged and said he did not knowingly engage in criminal behavior. This raised many eyebrows.
The state did what it had to do on Sunday. It asked to reopen the Rishon Tours and Talansky cases, complementing its request with new evidence that Zaken had agreed to provide as part of her yet-to-be-approved plea bargain. If the state manages to overturn the acquittals, the lower court's verdict will have been turned into a laughingstock (even more that it currently is).
The Supreme Court erred by not ruling on the appeal. If this was any other court case, Grunis would have reprimanded the judges for wasting time. But that is all water under the bridge. The justices should now proceed to grant the State Attorney's Office's request and allow it to present previously inadmissible evidence. This new material was not accessible during the trial because Zaken had invoked her right to remain silent.
The thuggish conduct of Olmert and his cronies has hurt too many good and honest people, including former State Attorney Moshe Lador and Uri Korev, who was in charge of prosecuting Olmert.
Former State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss and his colleague Yaakov Borovksy, former Finance Ministry Accountant-General Yaron Zelekha, Zaken and Messer are all among the casualties too, as are a whole host of public figures and journalists who belong to the Sons of Light. They worked tirelessly to uncover the truth about Olmert's allegedly criminal behavior, and they even managed to translate their work into a conviction in the Holyland Trial.
If Grunis and his colleagues deny the state's request and refuse to allow Zaken to retake the stand, it could indicate that they have already decided to convict Olmert in the Rishon Tours and Talansky affairs.
Olmert and his in-house reporters have accused the people I listed above as being out to get the former premier. But they deserve to have the truth come out in full.
טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו