13-01-2009, 01:23 PM
(This post was last modified: 13-01-2009, 01:28 PM by David Guyatt.)
From what I've read there is far too little information being made public in the United States about the key player in this scandal, namely Morris Talansky.
Despite Olmert being indicted on two out of six corruption charges due to the testimony of this little known Long Island financier, Talansky also shuffled money to Bill Clinton Rudi Guiliani and doubtless other US and Israeli politicians. Never-the-less Talansky remains a vague and shadowy character.
Unanswered questions abound: is he a laundry man for organized crime? Who provides him with the money he shuffles around he political arena? And, more importantly, why is so little still known about him?
Another US politician Talansky has financially supported is, yup, George Bush....
More is known about him in Israel however, where he now refuses to return for further questioning.
Why does this whole story "feel" like a lost scene out of the The Godfather?
Next thing you know the trail will lead ll the way to Las Vegas...
Whoops!
But before we examine Talansky in greater detail, first a brief review of what has made him so uncomfortably famous:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-0...844260.htm
Israeli police recommend indictment against premier Olmert
Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Sept. 7, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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JERUSALEM, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- 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
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Sept. 7, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
![[Image: xin_2820905080728718245322.jpg]](http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/08/xin_2820905080728718245322.jpg)
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
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 U.S. 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.
The police statement said the investigation "found that Talansky transferred to Olmert, over the years from 1997 and on, large sums of money in different ways, in cash and illegally," adding that Olmert promoted Talansky's businesses in return.
The second case, the Rishon Tours affair double billing affair, concerns charges that the premier is suspected of having sent bills to more than one non-profit organization for trips abroad to Jewish institutions to raise money.
When he spoke on behalf of two or three different non-profit organizations on the same trip, he would charge each of them the full flight fare.
According to the allegations, the extra money went into a special account managed by Rishon Tours, his travel agency, and was used to pay for private trips made by Olmert and his family. Police estimated that he had collected some 110,000 dollars by this means.
According to the police statement, among the organizations "swindled" in the double-billing were the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Authority and the Soldiers Welfare Fund.
In the Investment Center affair, Olmert, while serving as the industry, trade and labor minister, allegedly granted large state investment funds to a company which his close associate and former law partner Uri Messer had been hired to represent.
The police are expected to reach a decision regarding the Investment Center affair in the near future.
OLMERT'S REACTION
Olmert's attorneys responded to the police recommendation and said that the decision was "meaningless" just as the police statement was issued, said local daily Ha'aretz.
It said the police recommendation is "of no value" because "the only person with the authority to indict the prime minister is the attorney general," stating that a Supreme Court justice spoke out against the practice of police by passing a recommendation along with the results of their investigations.
"We will wait patiently for the decision of the attorney general," the statement said. "Unlike the police, he is aware of the heavy responsibility he holds."
Olmert's media advisor, Amir Dan, was also quoted by Ha'arez assaying on Saturday that "the police have no choice but to recommend an indictment, since they have to justify the fact that they brought down a prime minister in office."
However, Mark Regev, the spokesman for Olmert, told Xinhua in a telephone interview that the prime minister has "no comments" on the police announcement.
The premier has been questioned by police under caution for seven times since the Talansky Affair went public in May. However, he denies any wrongdoing in any of the cases.
Embroiled in the series of probes, Olmert announced late July that he would resign as soon as a new leader of his ruling Kadima party is elected. He has also said that he would step down if indicted.
In fact, the police recommendation would have only limited effect. Only Attorney General Meni Mazuz has the right to decide whether to indict Olmert.
In the past, Mazuz and his predecessors have rejected police recommendations to indict Israeli leaders for several times.
According to the legal procedure, the police should present the materials to the State Prosecutor's Office along with recommendations.
The final decision on whether to indict Olmert is expected to be made in approximately two weeks, following a hearing.
**
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1004801.html
Talansky money trail: Olmert's ex-lawyer tells police how cash was handled
By Gidi Weitz, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Ehud Olmert, Israel
On the morning of April 30, 2008, investigators from the National Fraud Squad accompanied attorney Uri Messer to a branch of Bank Leumi in Jerusalem, where the Jerusalem prosecutor had two safety deposit boxes.
In these boxes had been two tightly-packed bundles of U.S. dollar bills that Messer had held for years, in his own words, "faithfully for Ehud Olmert."
Messer, once a close confidant and lawyer for the prime minister, is one of those at the center of one of several corruption investigations into Olmert.
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Other key players are Olmert's former bureau chief, Shula Zaken, and Jewish American businessman Morris Talanksy, whose announcement that he donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Olmert sparked the inquiry.
"I told Ehud that [the money] is in the safe," Messer told police during questioning. "I didn't tell him which safe... he trusted that I knew how to look after the money."
Police: Who asked you to look after the money?
Meser: Zaken and Olmert... When Shula or Ehud wanted a certain amount they would call me and ask for it. I would go to the bank, open the safe and take out the money they wanted."
Messer said he knew where the money came from: "From conversations with Talansky, I understood that the money he gave to Shula reached me."
When investigators arrived at the bank with Messer in April, they discovered that the safe deposit boxes were nearly empty. One of the boxes contained a letter dated 2002, addressed to Olmert - then mayor of Jerusalem - and signed by Morris Talansky.
In the letter, drafted by Messer, Talansky told Olmert that he trusted him to repay the $380,000 in gurantee funds given to the United Jerusalem organization, which financed the bulk of Olmert's campaign during his race for mayor of Jerusalem.
Messer, who ran the United Jerusalem organization, had kept the letter for years in the Leumi strongbox, apparently with the understanding that the guarantee was a ticking time bomb.
The guarantee affair began in 1998, when Olmert was running for the position of Jerusalem mayor and stood at the head of a nonpartisan list for city council elections.
In second place on the list, Olmert had chosen former police chief Rafi Peled, who himself faced charges of breach of trust and fraud. Fourth place was given to businessman Haim Cohen, who had been convicted of bribery. Zaken's brother-in-law Yoram Karshi, who is set to stand trial over illicit tax charges, also secured a high place on this list.
With this cast of characters, Olmert set out to shame his opponent, Benjamin Netanyahu. The media had a field day with Olmert's political tactics - Jerusalem residents less so. Instead of the expected 10 seats, the list barely secured three.
The failure caused a huge hole in the United Jerusalem organization's bank account, which Messer asked Olmert to fix. "Olmert directed me to Talansky so I could cover the deficit," Messer said. "During that period, I got the idea to use the account opened under my name in which Talansky's money had been deposited, and if I'm not wrong, by then Talansky had already deposited cash connected to the sale of his apartment.
**
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/981755.html
Last update - 06:06 10/05/2008
BACKGROUND / Olmert financier prefers to avoid the limelight
By Uri Blau, Shlomo Shamir and Guy Leshem
![[Image: talansky250_boj.jpg]](http://wa-ne1.www.haaretz.com/hasite/images/iht_daily/D080508/talansky250_boj.jpg)
Long Island Jewish American mogul and millionaire financier Morris Talansky, who is suspected of bribing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, is described by acquaintances as a man who keeps his business affairs out of the spotlight.
Although he is a known fundraiser for and contributor to Jewish causes in the United States and Israel, nobody seems to know how he made his money. Moreover, though he has participated in dozens of public events, his photograph cannot be found on the Internet.
"He tries not to attract attention and to stay in the shadows," New York rabbis and businesspeople said of Talansky, 77, who is an Orthodox Jew.
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After graduating from Yeshiva University in 1954, he was ordained a rabbi, but went on to study law at a New York law school and then went into business. Years later, he served on Yeshiva University's board of trustees.
Talansky and his first wife, Marion, have three children: Yitzhak (Alan), a dentist and lecturer at Jerusalem's Machon Lev college; Bracha Tova (Barbara), a psychologist living in Ra'anana; and Ruth, an architect living in the U.S.
In 1996, after 40 years of marriage, the couple separated in what associates call "an ugly divorce." Earlier, in 1990, Marion moved alone to Israel. "I wanted to immigrate years ago, but my husband didn't want to. Finally, I decided enough already and came," Marion, who lives in Jerusalem today, told Haaretz.
She added that during her marriage to Talansky, she met Olmert and his office manager, Shula Zaken.
Talansky now lives with his second wife, Helen, in Woodsburgh, Long Island. He also has an apartment in the Wolfson Towers - a modern high-rise luxury apartment complex overlooking the Knesset and government ministries.
Talansky makes some of his money by fundraising and consulting for Israeli and Jewish charity organizations. Among other things, he held a key post in the New Jerusalem Fund's U.S. office; in the past, he also raised money for the ORT network.
However, Talansky made his name largely due to the funds he raised as executive director of the American Committee for Shaare Zedek Medical Center, which solicits overseas donations for the Jerusalem hospital. A Jewish activist in Brooklyn said Talansky was "the main New York activist for Shaare Zedek. In his heyday, he raised millions of dollars for the hospital."
"He didn't bother with small contributions, he went for the big ones," the activist added.
It was during this period that Talansky met Olmert, who, during his 10-year term as mayor of Jerusalem, was frequently featured at Shaare Zedek dinners and other fundraising events sponsored by the medical center.
Professor Yonatan Halevy, Shaare Zedek's director, said Talansky stopped working for the hospital in 1997. Sources in American Friends of Shaare Zedek confirmed this. However, American tax records indicate that Talansky received $90,000 from American Friends of Shaare Zedek for consulting work in 2004 and 2005.
Talansky also owns a small company in the U.S. called Trans Global Resources, which he founded in April 1998. He is registered as sole shareholder and director of the company, which provides investment consulting and business services. It also deals in real estate
investments.
Since the 1980s, the American tax records show, Talansky has contributed to several candidates in local and national elections, including presidential candidates. Among others, he supported George Bush and Rudy Guiliani. He mostly donated sums of $1,000.
When Olmert met Talansky
Long Island mogul Morris Talansky is a longtime acquaintance of Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert, even before the latter was elected Jerusalem mayor.
Olmert used to call Talansky "my dear old friend," and his aides referred to him as "Mr. T." Olmert's close associates called Talansky "the banker" or "the launderer."
Talansky has been named as one of the contributors to Olmert's mayoral
campaign in 1998. Olmert's associates say Talansky used to meet Olmert when he visited Israel in his bureau or in a Jerusalem hotel lobby. When Olmert visited New York the two usually met in Olmert's hotel suite.
Some Jerusalem municipal officials remember Talansky's visits. "He used to go directly inside without stopping for small talk with advisers and
secretaries," said a former senior city official who worked with Olmert.
Veteran city officials said an ultra-Orthodox contractor and political wheeler dealer, Yehuda Peli, introduced Olmert to Talansky.
Talansky, who was executive director of the American Committee for Shaare
Zedek Medical Center for over 20 years, is believed to have met Olmert during this period. Olmert frequently attended Shaare Zedek dinners and other fundraising events sponsored by the Jerusalem-based hospital.
Talansky's associates have recently denied reports that he was a right-wing activist who was acting against Olmert for ideological reasons. They said Olmert and Talansky kept close ties even after Olmert modified his political approach and supported the disengagement.
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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt...ntrassID=0
Prosecution: Talansky won't testify if U.S. doesn't give him immunity
By Tomer Zarchin and Ofra Edelman, Haaretz Correspondents
The Jerusalem District Prosecutor on Wednesday informed the Jerusalem District Court that Morris Talansky - the key witness in the graft probe against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - will not return to Israel for further testimony until an immunity deal with American authorities is reached.
Jerusalem District Attorney Eli Abarbanel told the court that, until now, American authorities have not supplied an answer to Talansky's request for immunity against self-incrimination.
Abarbanel informed the court that he spoke with Talansky's Israeli attorney Jack Chen, who told him that Talansky had not yet purchased a plane ticket to travel to Israel despite being scheduled to testify on Sunday.
Abarbanel added that it would have been better if Olmert's attorneys had finished their cross-examination of Talansky last month. The prime minister's associates responded by calling that claim absurd since they are still reviewing evidence passed to them by the prosecution.
The prime minister's media adviser, Amir Dan, said that the prosecution is in trouble because Talansky proved to be an unreliable witness and that his efforts to evade further cross-examination only support that.
State Comptroller slams Olmert
State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of further improprieties during the period when he served as the minister of industry, trade and labor.
Lindenstrauss said that during Olmert's tenure, over which he has already been investigated for alleged corruption, his aides at the ministry pressured its Investment Center management to advance investment plans and approve grants for entrepreneurs and industrialists in violation of labor regulations and procedures.
The state comptroller referred to a report released on Wednesday that focuses on Olmert's involvement in and approval of a tourism project called Aquaria, a planned recreation park that was to be built north of Eilat by entrepreneur Ran Peker.
According to the report, Olmert and his associates pressed for funding for Aquaria, despite the fact that the project did not prove its economic feasability.
"This incident is in addition to similar cases in which trade minister Ehud Olmert intervened, whether directly or indirectly via his assistants, in the activity of the Investment Center," read part of the state comptroller's report.
Aquaria had originally been planned by American entrepreneurs as a joint Israeli-Jordanian project, who later recommended it be implemented only in Israel. The project was to spread across 1,300 dunams north of Eilat, on land currently being leased to Kibbutz Eilot. The original budget had been $350 million, but was then reduced to $100 million.
The State Comptroller's Office investigated the Aquaria project for nearly a year. The report examined the Israel Land Administration's and several of the ministries involvement in the project, finding improprieties in their handling of the project.
In earlier probes of Olmert's tenure as trade minister, the state comptroller suspected Olmert of illicitly arranging investment opportunities for friends, claiming that he had discussed most of the requests submitted by clients of his close friend, attorney Uri Messer, and saw to it that they received benefits worth tens of millions of shekels.
In all the cases mentioned in the initial expose, Olmert took part in meetings with the entrepreneurs and Messer on the one hand, and with trade ministry officials on the other. Despite the possible conflict of interest, Olmert did not disqualify himself from discussing applications advancing the business interests of his close friend Messer.
**
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1002018.html
Olmert confidant refused to answer questions about cash that premier allegedly received
By Tomer Zarchin
Attorney Uri Messer, whom police had hoped would prove a key witness in one of the investigations against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - the Morris Talansky case - has decided not to cooperate with police.
During a three-hour interrogation under caution on June 18, Messer systematically refused to answer questions about the case, in which American Jewish businessman Talansky is suspected of giving Olmert some $150,000 over the course of about a decade.
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Messer was also questioned about allegations that while serving as industry and trade minister, Olmert used his longstanding friendship with the minister to obtain unwarranted benefits from the ministry for his clients.
Haaretz has obtained the full nine-page transcript of the interrogation, excerpts of which are being published here for the first time. The transcript reveals some of the difficulties in the investigation - specifically, the difficulty in proving that Olmert was aware of all the links along the chain that Talansky's money traveled.
Messer served as trustee for two bank accounts during the period in question: one to finance Olmert's successful campaign for mayor of Jerusalem, and one to finance his unsuccessful run for the Likud Party chairmanship. Police are still not certain exactly how much money from Talansky made its way into these accounts via Olmert's former office manager, Shula Zaken.
The interrogation began with Messer announcing that he had no intention of answering any more of the police's questions, because things he had said "off the record, man to man" during previous interrogations had been published on the front pages of newspapers in early June.
"Until now, I have fully answered all the questions you asked me, both 'on the record' and 'off the record,'" Messer said. "And then, two weeks ago, I saw things I told you 'off the record,' man to man, in the lead headline of the paper. For me, that was a watershed. It hurt me very deeply, and therefore, I do not intend to continue answering questions beyond what I have answered to date."
Superintendents Iris Barak and Tzachi Chavkin responded that they, too, deplored the leaks, and urged him not to foil their efforts to get to the bottom of the case due to the media reports. But Messer was adamant.
"First, everything I say here sooner or later reaches the media," he complained. "Second, I was very deeply hurt. Something broke inside me, and it can't be healed. Therefore, I don't intend to continue answering questions beyond what I've answered to date."
Nevertheless, the investigators insisted on posing their questions.
The first question they asked related to the stash of dollars, in cash, that Messer kept for Olmert, first in a safe in his office and later in a strongbox in Bank Leumi.
"Who else had a key to the office safe?" they asked.
When Messer refused to answer, they continued: "The material we have indicates that on December 24, 2003, Talansky gave Shula Zaken a large sum of money, $72,500. Shula gave $7,500 of this money directly to Olmert, and the rest, $65,000, she gave to you. We would like you to give us details about this large sum that Shula gave you ... What did you do with the money after you received it?"
When Messer again refused to answer, they tried a different tack: "During your [previous] interrogations, you said that you spoke with Talansky several times about the money Talansky gave to Shula and Olmert, which afterward came to you. For instance, in your interrogation of April 30, 2008, you said: 'From my conversations with Talansky, I was able to understand that the money Talansky gave Shula Zaken was transferred to me to keep for Olmert.' Which of the sums that Talansky transferred did the two of you discuss?"
Later, Barak and Chavkin asked Messer when exactly he returned a sum of $150,000 to Olmert, via Zaken. During his previous interrogations, Messer had said that he did so after he decided to stop serving as Olmert's banker.
They also asked him for details about a document in their possession detailing his visits to the strongbox in Bank Leumi. Again, Messer refused to answer.
Next, they asked about money that was transferred from Talansky's account in America to one of the Bank Leumi accounts for which Messer served as trustee - the one that financed Olmert's bid for the Likud leadership. These included a $60,000 transfer on June 17, 1999, a $50,000 transfer on June 21, 1999, and another transfer - for which the transcript gives no date - of 25,000 pounds sterling. Messer replied that he had nothing to say.
"What involvement in and/or knowledge of these transfers ... or of the use made of this money, did Olmert have?" the investigators continued, again with no response.
Barak and Chavkin also asked about the deficit that accrued in the account of the United Jerusalem organization, which financed the bulk of Olmert's campaign for mayor of Jerusalem.
During his previous interrogations, they noted, Messer had said that money received from Talansky was used to cover this deficit. That money was supposed to have been used only as collateral for the debt, but in early 2002, when no other way of covering the deficit had been found, the Talansky money was used to repay the debt.
"Isn't it true that Talansky asked you when the money would be returned to him?" they demanded.
The investigators also charged that "the entire construct" of the account in which the Talansky money was deposited - the one for which Messer served as trustee, and which served as collateral for United Jerusalem's debts - was intended from the start to deceive the state comptroller by concealing the true source of the money that was ultimately used to pay off the organization's debts.
When Messer declined to be drawn into responding, the interrogators asked why he had agreed to pay the fine that the comptroller levied on United Jerusalem, rather than covering the deficit with the funds in the Talansky account. Once again, Messer refused to answer.
Should Olmert be indicted, police can still call Messer to the witness stand on the basis of his earlier police interrogations, during which he gave detailed answers to the questions he was asked. Should he refuse to answer questions in court, he could be declared a hostile witness, which would enable prosecutors to submit his earlier police testimony to the court as evidence.
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http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasen/spages/995434.html
Last update - 11:36 23/06/2008
Police off to U.S. to quiz Olmert's son, others in corruption probe
By The Associated Press
Tags: Ehud Olmert, Morris Talansky
Police say Israeli investigators have left for the U.S. to question people in connection with the corruption probe involving Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The premier's son, Shaul Olmert, is also expected to face questioning, Israel Radio reported Monday.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says the investigators flew to the U.S. on Monday and are expected to be there about two weeks. He had no further details.
But Israel Radio reported that the officers will conduct inquiries at offices, banks and hotels in New York, Washington and Las Vegas.
The key witness in the case is Jewish American businessman Morris Talansky. He has testified to giving the Israeli leader hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. No charges have been filed yet in the case, and Olmert denies wrongdoing.
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http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasen/spages/986493.html
Last update - 12:15 23/05/2008
Talansky misleads court in collateral bid to leave Israel before deposition
By Uri Blau
Tags: Morris Talansky, Ehud Olmert
The central witness in the investigation against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, American businessman Morris Talansky, told a Jerusalem court on Wednesday that he was willing to mortgage his Jerusalem apartment as collateral to ensure his return to Israel to testify.
However, Haaretz has learned that the apartment Talansky referred to does not belong to him, and thus the evidence presented to the court by his lawyer was misleading.
"For years now, he [Talansky] has visited his family in Israel frequently, an average of three or four times a year. In 1993, he acquired an apartment in Jerusalem which he used during his visits to Israel. Today, he is the owner of a second apartment, that which he has offered as collateral," said his lawyer, Jacques Chen, on Wednesday.
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Talansky has contested a court request that he delay his stay of exit order to deliver his deposition.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his former bureau chief, Shula Zaken had requested that the date of Talansky's testimony be delayed for two weeks.
The Jerusalem District Court on Friday avoided a stark ruling on the matter, and ordered the parties involved to find a compromise to the request.
Talansky had asked for permission to leave the country as planned and return to give his testimony in June.
"As Mr. Talansky has an urgent need to return home, he will come back to Israel a number of days before he is meant to give his early testimony? In order to ensure the honorable court of his return to Israel, Mr. Talansky is willing to mortgage his Jerusalem apartment as collateral, valued at $1,300,000," his lawyer said.
Haaretz has learned that the apartment purchased by Morris Talansky in the 1990s has been under the ownership of his son, Isaac Allan Talansky, since 2001, for which he paid his father the price of NIS 2,000,000.
"My father bought apartment No. 4 in building No. 9 on Diskin Street and sold it to me in 2001. He has used the apartment ever since and pays the bills accordingly. I am of course willing to mortgage the apartment to ensure his return to Israel". This message was sent to Jack Chen by Talansky's son only after Haaretz turned to Talansky's lawyer and the false information had already been presented to the courts.
In response, Chen said, "I have made an innocent mistake. In any case, the matter at hand is insignificant, considering the fact that the mistake will be cleared up and reported to the prosecution and a letter from Talansky's son verifying the mortgaging of the apartment to ensure Mr. Talansky's return will be sent to them as well."
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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/987492.html
ast update - 08:26 28/05/2008
Talansky: Olmert got $150,000 from me, introduced me to tycoons
By Ofra Edelman and Tomer Zarchin, Haaretz Correspondents, and Agencies
:Tags Israel, Ehud Olmert
.Morris Talansky, the American-Jewish businessman suspected of making illicit cash transfers to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said in court testimony in Jerusalem on Tuesday that he had transferred Olmert some $150,000 over 15 years, and that Olmert had tried to aid a Talansky business venture by introducing him to several American billionaires
.Olmert's lawyer Eli Zohar labeled Talansky's testimony "twisted" and said the truth would be revealed in his cross-examination set for July 17. "In general, we're saying that we're not talking about criminal activity whatsoever," Zohar said
.Talansky, 75, said there were no records of how the money he transferred was spent. "I only know that he loved expensive cigars. I know he loved pens, watches. I found it strange," Talansky told the court, then shrugged
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.However, Talansky insisted that he never expected anything in exchange
".I had a very close relationship with him, but I wish to add at this time at the relationship of 15 years was purely of admiration," he added. "I never expected anything personally. I never had any personal benefits from this relationship whatsoever"
.But later, he said he had grown disillusioned over the years
".Olmert had the ability to reach out to the American people, the largest and richest community of Jews in the world," Talansky said. "That's why I supported the man. That's why I overlooked, frankly and honestly, a lot of things. I overlooked them, maybe I shouldn't have"
.It remained unclear if Talansky's day-long testimony had significantly helped prosecutors near proof of a "smoking gun" of evidence of bribery against Olmert. Although he admitted to having given Olmert cash-filled envelopes, Talansky maintained that he had asked for nothing in return
".The businessman told the court that Olmert had asked him for donations for his 1993 Jerusalem mayoral campaign and throughout his tenure as industry and trade minister. He said the cash-filled envelopes were transferred through Olmert's former bureau chief, Shula Zaken, each one containing between $3,000 and $8,000, and that the transfers were "legitimate
.Talansky also said that Olmert volunteered to contact three billionaires, including Plaza Hotel owner Yitzhak Tshuva and Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, to try to drum up business for a hotel minibar venture run by Talansky. But Talansky said the offer did not help, and Adelson slammed down the phone on him
.I said to myself, 'I'm never going to go to a politician for business'," Talansky said with a laugh. "He wanted to do me a favor and it never worked out." Adelson, America's third richest man, was questioned in the case earlier this month during a visit to Jerusalem"
Early deposition
.In an unusual move, prosecutors had won permission to depose Talansky in court in a preliminary phase of a criminal investigation into the prime minister, in which no indictments have yet been filed
.The early testimony was requested because Talansky resides in the United States and authorities were concerned that he may not return to Israel to testify in the future. At one point during the hours-long deposition, the possibility of adjourning until Wednesday was raised. This led Talansky to break down in tears, saying he was in a rush to return to the United States due to his wife's ailing health
.Prosecutors are intent on determining whether the money Talansky donated to Olmert - suspected of reaching sums of up to $500,000 - amounted to bribery. Olmert, who stated publicly that he only received funds for campaign purposes, has promised to step down if indicted for bribery
.The unpaid loans, Talansky told Jerusalem District Court, included a $25,000-$30,000 loan used for a 2004 family vacation to Italy. Olmert never paid him back, Talansky said
.The businessman also mentioned a second loan for $15,000, which Olmert asked for during a stay at the Regency hotel in New York. Olmert refused to take a check and asked for cash, Talansky said
.Talansky said he walked to a bank four blocks away and withdrew the money. When he handed over the cash to Olmert, he asked to be repaid as soon as possible. "Famous last words," Talansky said, explaining that he was never paid back
Cash, no checks
.At the start of the deposition, Talansky said that Olmert had specifically requested donations in cash, but later amended the statement to say that Olmert had simply said he preferred not to receive the money in check form
.Talansky alleged that some of the cash he donated was used to upgrade airline tickets from business class to first class, and that he once paid $4,700 for Olmert's three-day stay at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Washington, D.C
.According to documents revealed during the deposition, that hotel bill included laundry costs, video rentals and international phone calls. This sum, the witness explained, was also a loan that was never repaid
".Olmert called him to say his own credit card was maxed out," Talansky testified. "He asked if he could borrow my card and he said it was part of a loan"
.Talansky said that he later requested the money be paid back, after which Olmert sent him the phone number of his son, who was then working at Nickelodeon Studios in the United States. The two met, and Olmert's son allegedly promised Talansky he would speak with his father. However, he said, he hadn't heard from Olmert or from his son since
No contact with Olmert as PM
.Talansky said the last payment he made to Olmert was for some $72,500 for the latter's Likud primary campaign in 2003. He said there had been no contact since Olmert became prime minister, except for a single meeting at a social function
.Testifying in English, Talansky said he first met then-health minister Olmert in the early 1990s, while the American businessman was working for the U.S. fundraising arm for Shaare Zedek, a Jerusalem hospital
.When Olmert visited New York at one point, Talansky received Olmert's room number from Zaken, and met him there to bring money, he said
.The witness said that he was told the money was needed for expenses, which he thought meant campaign needs such as advertising and posters. He estimated that he tranferred money during roughly half of his visits to the Industry and Trade Ministry
.Olmert had asked him for loans, Talansky said, and he subsequently organized New York fundraisers to help raise cash. He told prosecutors that at such events, envelopes were left on guests' chairs, and then given to Olmert and Zaken
.Talansky also testified that he had asked Olmert, who was a member of Likud at the time, why he didn't raise money through the party's fundraisers in the United States. Olmert told him that should he do so, the money would go straight to the party, Talansky said
.He said that he gave Olmert money because of his great respect for the Israeli politician, who he had believed would represent the future of Israel's leadership
.He was articulate, he was intelligent. I felt that he would be a leader that I would have hoped to be if I had the talent," Talansky said, adding that Olmert would warmly greet him during their meetings in Jerusalem"
".Whenever Shula told him I was here, no matter what, he would always come out and greet me. A hug, a big hug. He hugged me. I remember for my 70th birthday he sent me a very beautiful card. He invited me to his son's wedding"
.Talansky also spoke at length about his close relationship to Israel and to the Jewish organizations with which he has worked
.Ahead of the testimony, State Prosecutor Moshe Lador told reporters not to jump to conclusions and called media reports incorrect and irresponsible
.There is no decision. We are at the height of the investigation. The case could develop in different directions down the road - there is a possibility that the whole case could be dropped, and there is also a possibility that another decision will be made in the case," Lador said"
.Police have said the charges span a 12-year period, when Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem and minister of industry and trade. Detectives have raided Jerusalem city hall and the trade ministry and have grilled Olmert twice
.Defense attorneys representing Olmert and Zaken will be able to cross-examine Talansky on Wednesday. However, the defense lawyers said Friday that they will not cross-examine Talansky at this time, because they claim they have not been given sufficient time to examine the material collected by police investigators in the case
.The defense has said it would like Talansky to return to Israel at a later date, probably in July, for his cross-examination
.The court decided last week that Olmert and Zaken would not have to be present in court during Talansky's deposition, though the State Prosecutor's Office had sought to compel their presence, arguing that their response during the testimony would offer the judges some insight into the case
.In the Tuesday deposition, prosecutors asked Talansky about his relationship with Olmert and their meetings, both in Israel and abroad, as well as his relationship with Zaken and Olmert's former business partner, attorney Uri Messer. He was asked about people who contributed funds to Olmert that Talansky is suspected of having transferred through Zaken. In addition, he was asked about the dates when the alleged transfers were made, as well as the purpose of the funds
.During the High Court of Justice's deliberations last week on a petition by Olmert and Zaken against Talansky's planned deposition, Lador revealed evidence that he said supports the allegations against the prime minister
.Lador said that during Olmert's terms as both Jerusalem mayor and minister of industry and trade, he maintained close ties with American Jewish leaders. Talansky was actively involved in fundraising and organizing meetings with Israeli public figures, and as a result of his close relations with Olmert, he organized events for his friend
.Lador also told the court that according to the testimony Talansky gave to police investigators, he handed Olmert envelopes full of cash during short meetings between the two. According to this testimony, the requests for money came from Olmert, who also dictated the sums
".Lador said that Olmert is suspected of fraud, breach of trust, tax violations and violations of the Gifts Law. He is also suspected of not reporting his receipts of cash while he was minister of industry and trade, as required by law. Lador was careful not to say that Olmert was suspected of receiving bribes, but hinted that "if there is a reason for the money transfers, if something was offered in return, then this may be significant
Jurists: Conviction still a long shot
.Meanwhile, despite the prosecution's cautious optimism Tuesday, the investigation against Olmert is far from being a slam dunk case, legal experts warn
.Avi Lavi, a lawyer specializing in white-collar crime, said Tuesday that the state prosecution is rightly being careful in establishing the basis for crimes to be included in an indictment, should one be filed
.On the face of it, [Morris] Talansky's testimony is problematic for establishing the necessary foundation for a bribery offense, as described by law, since it requires that the money intentionally be given to a public servant in exchange for him doing something for you in his professional capacity," Lavi said. The state has to prove that specific monies and favors were given in order that Olmert would do something in return for Talansky, even if not immediately. But Talansky claims he wanted nothing in return"
.Lavi said it is easier to establish charges of fraud and breach of trust in the case of a public servant systematically receiving favors, even without any quid-pro-quo
.Talansky's testimony also indicates alleged tax evasion, since major gifts went unreported
.Prof. Ruth Kannai, a criminal law expert at Bar-Ilan University, says there is not even enough evidence yet to make a charge of breach of trust stick
".Merely receiving envelopes with money, a vacation loan, funding for hotels or flights are not necessarily a basis for conviction, although you could say that when you receive so much, in such a manner, over time, it constitutes breach of trust. It still looks to me like it's only the beginning"
.Kannai concurred with Lavi that it would be easier to establish fraud and breach of trust in view of Talansky's testimony, as opposed to bribery .
**
For those who are not aware, the Sands Corporation has a long history of being connected to organized crime. Mr. Sheldon G Adelson has been mentioned in connection with Morris Talansky...
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http://finance.aol.com/company/las-vegas...IID=125355
Sheldon G. Adelson
View All Key Executives
Mr. Adelson has been Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, Treasurer and a director of the Company since August 2004. He has been Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Las Vegas Sands, LLC (or its predecessor, Las Vegas Sands, Inc.) since April 1988 when it was formed to own and operate the former Sands Hotel and Casino. Mr. Adelson has extensive experience in the convention, trade show, and tour and travel businesses. Mr. Adelson also has investments in other business enterprises. Mr. Adelson created and developed the COMDEX Trade Shows, including the COMDEX/Fall Trade Show, which was the world"s largest computer show in the 1990s, all of which were sold to Softbank Corporation in April 1995. Mr. Adelson also created and developed The Sands Expo and Convention Center, which he grew into one of the largest convention and trade show destinations in the United States before transferring it to us in July 2004. He has been President and Chairman of Interface Group Holding Company, Inc. since the mid-1970s and Chairman of our affiliate, Interface Group-Massachusetts, LLC and its predecessors, since 1990.
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And from a blog (for what it may be worth?).
**
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1...698549/pg1
srael PM Ehud Olmert,Menachem Atzmon,ICTS International,Morris Talansky Global Technologies, U.S.Stock Money Launderers, WTC,9/11/01,SwissAir 111,9/2/98
Recently the name of New York citizen Morris Talansky has been reported as an Israeli government witness against current Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for taking bribes.In fact the Israeli government had a gag order in effect that prevented mention of New York 'businessman' Morris Talansky and his role as a witness against Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a bribery investigation launched or ongoing by the Israeli government of it own Prime Minister.Right-wing Las Vegas and Macao casino owner Sheldon Adelson as well as Slim Fast's founder S. Daniel Abraham have been called to testify along with Talansky.
Daniel Abraham was previously named along with Australian billionaire Frank Lowy in regards to the Leumi Bank sale scandal that also alleges Olmert collusion in writing favorable terms for 'privitization' the of Leumi to suit them.
Parodoxically Cerberus hedge fund of Stephen Feinberg,ex U.S.Treasury Secretary John Snow,Dan Quayle and Haliburton's and Dick Cheney's Kellogg Brown and Root gang have since purchased about 10% of Leumi and allow Israeli penny stock criminals and right wing Americans such James Dale Davidson and ex CIA and Carlyle exec Frank Carlucci to use the bank for fraud and money laundering with U.S. penny stocks such as Pluristem(that claims to use stem cells from placentas for medical purposes) that Davidson promotes from the National Taxpayers Union near the Security Exchange Commission's Alexandria,Virginia office !
What the NY Post and the New York Times failed to mention among other things was Morris Talansky's coincidental investment in Global Technologies Ltd in the 1990's whose Entertainment Network(purchased from another failed NASDAQ 'company' called INTERACTIVE FLIGHT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.) was blamed for Swissair 111 crash of September 2,1998.
What is even stranger is the coincidence of another Israeli controlled U.S. or NASDAQ penny stock,ICTS International, that guarded Logan Airport,Boston on 9/11, was controlled and managed by Menachem Atzmon who was also convicted of money laundering for his and Netanyahu's and Ehud Olmert's Likud Party.So both Olmert's old money laundering pals,Talansky and Atzmon,appear to also dabble in airline 'security',
airline entertainment,spy satelites,etc..
And besides rumors that Mr.Talansky passed hundreds of thousands of dollars from anonymous donors passed through Talansky - the most disturbing fact to me is that most if not all of this corrupt money appears to derive from U.S. 'securities' or stock fraud against misinformed and deceived investors. I have already written,before news of Talansky 's involvement with Olmert was reported, about Olmert's involvement with both Michael Zwebner and his fraudulent Air Water Corp or UCSY U.S. penny stock scam that claims to manufacture machines that extract water from the air but only steals money by promoting and selling worthless U.S. penny stock shares and laundering through offshore accounts from the Cayman Islands to Liechtenstein to Israel ! The same goes ditto for Israeli Menachem Atzmon's ICTS International that used U.S. NASDAQ and defrauded investors to promote their worthless shares upon the U.S. market and besides feathering their own offshore accounts with the scam could even buy U.S. Huntliegh airport rent-a-cops and the contract to guard 9/11 up to and during the WTC tragedy of 9/11/01 ! Mr.Atzmon had already been convicted of the equivalent of money laundering between Israeli government and Likud Party accounts that Ehud Olmert barley escaped being charged with as well and yet the U.S. government allowed him and his Israeli 'business' partners to open up and incorporate ICTS International and to guard our most sensitive strategic real estate - Logan Airport,the WTC,etc. ! And all done and funded by ripping off investors with U.S. penny stock scams ! Even Ehud Olmert's partner Michael Zwebner of Air Water Corp fame had developed such a reputation for his sleazy 'business' practices in the UK before immigrating to the U.S. and Florida to operate U.S. penny stock money laundering operations that it should be a major embarrassment to the U.S. SEC or Securities Exchange Commission that has condoned such criminal activities with U.S. securities or penny stocks FOR YEARS BEFORE AND AFTER 9/11/01 !
It appears that the U.S. 'public company ' Global Technologies Ltd that Morris Talansky was an insider and beneficiary of even before it purchased Interactive Flight Technologies Inc whose inflight 'Entertainment Network' wiring may have been what brought Swissair flight 111 to its knees and to the death of all passengers onboard on 9/2/98 may well have played a roll in bankrolling now Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel.And Global Technologies appears designed, like Menachem Atzmon's,et.al.'s ICTS International that 'guarded' Logan Airport in Boston on 9/11/01 to be a money losing share
'distributing' or dumping operation whose very shares could be used not only to defraud investors - mainly Americans - as well as to launder money - including bribes to Israeli politicians such as PM Ehud Olmert and no doubt for influencing U.S. politicians with more bribes-donations to them as well !
Note that while I am not saying that Menachem Atzmon's ICTS International purposefully allowed 9/11 to happen or that Morris Talansky's,et.al.'s Global Technologies Ltd and its Entertainment Network purposely short circuited the Swissair 111's electric circuits - I am saying that they were both funded with money from deceived investors and using that money to influence both U.S. and Israeli government officials in their own favor as they continue to do to this day.I am also saying that individuals or corporations formed in the U.S. for the purpose of defrauding investors as in the case of Atzmon's et.al.'s ICTS International that has even sought an IRS tax rebate for all the dollars the ripped off U.S. investors and after presiding over the 'security' of some of U.S.' MOST STRATEGIC REAL ESTATE PRE 911.
ICST International has been coddled and protected at every level of the U.S. government from 'our' court system in New York by Judge Albert Hellerstein all the way to the White House and its political appointments to the U.S. IRS and the DOJ such as ex Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and now U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey who like Judge Alvin Hellerstein and Talansky and so many more politically governmentally connected individuals within spheres of influence in covering up 9/11/01 - are right wing Jews('Orthodox' or otherwise) - who have more allegiance to Israel than the U.S. itself - thus people like Talansky are traitors - but not to Israel because they are U.S. citizens ! They are traitors not to Israel but to the U.S..
Talansky also has given political donations to the Clintons,Rudy Giuliani and others.It should not be surprising that U.S. Attorney General Mukasey as well as his step son Marc Mukasey are also part of Giuiani's pro white collar penny stock crime law firm.
PM Olmert has also been connected with Israeli Menahem Eitan of the Xybernaut U.S. penny stock pump and dump fraud who has defended Olmert's interests as a member of Israel's Winograd Committee investigation into 2006 war with Lebanon.Menahem Eitan who may be related to Rafael Eitan of the Jonathan Pollard spy scandal and is or was also a witness in Olmert's defense of corruption charges surrounding purchase of Olmert's Jerusalem apartment.Unfortunately the Israeli Menahem Eitan turns out to have used U.S. penny stock market for illegal pump and dump activities and probable money laundering along with ex Virginia Governor and Senator George Allen and Bill Clinton's first Jewish Ambassador to Morocco,Marc Ginsberg of Fox News and Huffington Post 'Middle East expert'fame.
..............................................
Although I do find find Morris Talansky's name attached to this old
Global Resources Group Inc. NASDAQ or penny stock company it appears as if the companies description of its activities in the 1990's paralels that of Mr.Morris Talanksy and his business associates - i.e.-satelite
communications.Talanksy and or his
Global Resources Group out of New York was coincidentally in litigation in NY court with Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd.'s ImageSat that although a 'public' company is also an or the Israeli government's own piece of the military industrial complex.
Some reporters or bloggers have suggested Talansky who is set to give testimony re Olmert and his funding of Olmert's political activities as mayor of Jerusalem or during his time as head of Ministry of Industry is a way of getting revenge on Olmert who isn't far enough right or 'orthodox' for some.However Talansky denies this but has actually hinted that he thought his life in danger due to his cooperation with Israel fraud investigators
Despite Olmert being indicted on two out of six corruption charges due to the testimony of this little known Long Island financier, Talansky also shuffled money to Bill Clinton Rudi Guiliani and doubtless other US and Israeli politicians. Never-the-less Talansky remains a vague and shadowy character.
Unanswered questions abound: is he a laundry man for organized crime? Who provides him with the money he shuffles around he political arena? And, more importantly, why is so little still known about him?
Another US politician Talansky has financially supported is, yup, George Bush....
More is known about him in Israel however, where he now refuses to return for further questioning.
Why does this whole story "feel" like a lost scene out of the The Godfather?
Next thing you know the trail will lead ll the way to Las Vegas...
Whoops!
But before we examine Talansky in greater detail, first a brief review of what has made him so uncomfortably famous:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-0...844260.htm
Israeli police recommend indictment against premier Olmert
Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Sept. 7, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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JERUSALEM, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- 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
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Sept. 7, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
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 U.S. 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.
The police statement said the investigation "found that Talansky transferred to Olmert, over the years from 1997 and on, large sums of money in different ways, in cash and illegally," adding that Olmert promoted Talansky's businesses in return.
The second case, the Rishon Tours affair double billing affair, concerns charges that the premier is suspected of having sent bills to more than one non-profit organization for trips abroad to Jewish institutions to raise money.
When he spoke on behalf of two or three different non-profit organizations on the same trip, he would charge each of them the full flight fare.
According to the allegations, the extra money went into a special account managed by Rishon Tours, his travel agency, and was used to pay for private trips made by Olmert and his family. Police estimated that he had collected some 110,000 dollars by this means.
According to the police statement, among the organizations "swindled" in the double-billing were the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Authority and the Soldiers Welfare Fund.
In the Investment Center affair, Olmert, while serving as the industry, trade and labor minister, allegedly granted large state investment funds to a company which his close associate and former law partner Uri Messer had been hired to represent.
The police are expected to reach a decision regarding the Investment Center affair in the near future.
OLMERT'S REACTION
Olmert's attorneys responded to the police recommendation and said that the decision was "meaningless" just as the police statement was issued, said local daily Ha'aretz.
It said the police recommendation is "of no value" because "the only person with the authority to indict the prime minister is the attorney general," stating that a Supreme Court justice spoke out against the practice of police by passing a recommendation along with the results of their investigations.
"We will wait patiently for the decision of the attorney general," the statement said. "Unlike the police, he is aware of the heavy responsibility he holds."
Olmert's media advisor, Amir Dan, was also quoted by Ha'arez assaying on Saturday that "the police have no choice but to recommend an indictment, since they have to justify the fact that they brought down a prime minister in office."
However, Mark Regev, the spokesman for Olmert, told Xinhua in a telephone interview that the prime minister has "no comments" on the police announcement.
The premier has been questioned by police under caution for seven times since the Talansky Affair went public in May. However, he denies any wrongdoing in any of the cases.
Embroiled in the series of probes, Olmert announced late July that he would resign as soon as a new leader of his ruling Kadima party is elected. He has also said that he would step down if indicted.
In fact, the police recommendation would have only limited effect. Only Attorney General Meni Mazuz has the right to decide whether to indict Olmert.
In the past, Mazuz and his predecessors have rejected police recommendations to indict Israeli leaders for several times.
According to the legal procedure, the police should present the materials to the State Prosecutor's Office along with recommendations.
The final decision on whether to indict Olmert is expected to be made in approximately two weeks, following a hearing.
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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1004801.html
Talansky money trail: Olmert's ex-lawyer tells police how cash was handled
By Gidi Weitz, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Ehud Olmert, Israel
On the morning of April 30, 2008, investigators from the National Fraud Squad accompanied attorney Uri Messer to a branch of Bank Leumi in Jerusalem, where the Jerusalem prosecutor had two safety deposit boxes.
In these boxes had been two tightly-packed bundles of U.S. dollar bills that Messer had held for years, in his own words, "faithfully for Ehud Olmert."
Messer, once a close confidant and lawyer for the prime minister, is one of those at the center of one of several corruption investigations into Olmert.
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Other key players are Olmert's former bureau chief, Shula Zaken, and Jewish American businessman Morris Talanksy, whose announcement that he donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Olmert sparked the inquiry.
"I told Ehud that [the money] is in the safe," Messer told police during questioning. "I didn't tell him which safe... he trusted that I knew how to look after the money."
Police: Who asked you to look after the money?
Meser: Zaken and Olmert... When Shula or Ehud wanted a certain amount they would call me and ask for it. I would go to the bank, open the safe and take out the money they wanted."
Messer said he knew where the money came from: "From conversations with Talansky, I understood that the money he gave to Shula reached me."
When investigators arrived at the bank with Messer in April, they discovered that the safe deposit boxes were nearly empty. One of the boxes contained a letter dated 2002, addressed to Olmert - then mayor of Jerusalem - and signed by Morris Talansky.
In the letter, drafted by Messer, Talansky told Olmert that he trusted him to repay the $380,000 in gurantee funds given to the United Jerusalem organization, which financed the bulk of Olmert's campaign during his race for mayor of Jerusalem.
Messer, who ran the United Jerusalem organization, had kept the letter for years in the Leumi strongbox, apparently with the understanding that the guarantee was a ticking time bomb.
The guarantee affair began in 1998, when Olmert was running for the position of Jerusalem mayor and stood at the head of a nonpartisan list for city council elections.
In second place on the list, Olmert had chosen former police chief Rafi Peled, who himself faced charges of breach of trust and fraud. Fourth place was given to businessman Haim Cohen, who had been convicted of bribery. Zaken's brother-in-law Yoram Karshi, who is set to stand trial over illicit tax charges, also secured a high place on this list.
With this cast of characters, Olmert set out to shame his opponent, Benjamin Netanyahu. The media had a field day with Olmert's political tactics - Jerusalem residents less so. Instead of the expected 10 seats, the list barely secured three.
The failure caused a huge hole in the United Jerusalem organization's bank account, which Messer asked Olmert to fix. "Olmert directed me to Talansky so I could cover the deficit," Messer said. "During that period, I got the idea to use the account opened under my name in which Talansky's money had been deposited, and if I'm not wrong, by then Talansky had already deposited cash connected to the sale of his apartment.
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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/981755.html
Last update - 06:06 10/05/2008
BACKGROUND / Olmert financier prefers to avoid the limelight
By Uri Blau, Shlomo Shamir and Guy Leshem
Long Island Jewish American mogul and millionaire financier Morris Talansky, who is suspected of bribing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, is described by acquaintances as a man who keeps his business affairs out of the spotlight.
Although he is a known fundraiser for and contributor to Jewish causes in the United States and Israel, nobody seems to know how he made his money. Moreover, though he has participated in dozens of public events, his photograph cannot be found on the Internet.
"He tries not to attract attention and to stay in the shadows," New York rabbis and businesspeople said of Talansky, 77, who is an Orthodox Jew.
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After graduating from Yeshiva University in 1954, he was ordained a rabbi, but went on to study law at a New York law school and then went into business. Years later, he served on Yeshiva University's board of trustees.
Talansky and his first wife, Marion, have three children: Yitzhak (Alan), a dentist and lecturer at Jerusalem's Machon Lev college; Bracha Tova (Barbara), a psychologist living in Ra'anana; and Ruth, an architect living in the U.S.
In 1996, after 40 years of marriage, the couple separated in what associates call "an ugly divorce." Earlier, in 1990, Marion moved alone to Israel. "I wanted to immigrate years ago, but my husband didn't want to. Finally, I decided enough already and came," Marion, who lives in Jerusalem today, told Haaretz.
She added that during her marriage to Talansky, she met Olmert and his office manager, Shula Zaken.
Talansky now lives with his second wife, Helen, in Woodsburgh, Long Island. He also has an apartment in the Wolfson Towers - a modern high-rise luxury apartment complex overlooking the Knesset and government ministries.
Talansky makes some of his money by fundraising and consulting for Israeli and Jewish charity organizations. Among other things, he held a key post in the New Jerusalem Fund's U.S. office; in the past, he also raised money for the ORT network.
However, Talansky made his name largely due to the funds he raised as executive director of the American Committee for Shaare Zedek Medical Center, which solicits overseas donations for the Jerusalem hospital. A Jewish activist in Brooklyn said Talansky was "the main New York activist for Shaare Zedek. In his heyday, he raised millions of dollars for the hospital."
"He didn't bother with small contributions, he went for the big ones," the activist added.
It was during this period that Talansky met Olmert, who, during his 10-year term as mayor of Jerusalem, was frequently featured at Shaare Zedek dinners and other fundraising events sponsored by the medical center.
Professor Yonatan Halevy, Shaare Zedek's director, said Talansky stopped working for the hospital in 1997. Sources in American Friends of Shaare Zedek confirmed this. However, American tax records indicate that Talansky received $90,000 from American Friends of Shaare Zedek for consulting work in 2004 and 2005.
Talansky also owns a small company in the U.S. called Trans Global Resources, which he founded in April 1998. He is registered as sole shareholder and director of the company, which provides investment consulting and business services. It also deals in real estate
investments.
Since the 1980s, the American tax records show, Talansky has contributed to several candidates in local and national elections, including presidential candidates. Among others, he supported George Bush and Rudy Guiliani. He mostly donated sums of $1,000.
When Olmert met Talansky
Long Island mogul Morris Talansky is a longtime acquaintance of Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert, even before the latter was elected Jerusalem mayor.
Olmert used to call Talansky "my dear old friend," and his aides referred to him as "Mr. T." Olmert's close associates called Talansky "the banker" or "the launderer."
Talansky has been named as one of the contributors to Olmert's mayoral
campaign in 1998. Olmert's associates say Talansky used to meet Olmert when he visited Israel in his bureau or in a Jerusalem hotel lobby. When Olmert visited New York the two usually met in Olmert's hotel suite.
Some Jerusalem municipal officials remember Talansky's visits. "He used to go directly inside without stopping for small talk with advisers and
secretaries," said a former senior city official who worked with Olmert.
Veteran city officials said an ultra-Orthodox contractor and political wheeler dealer, Yehuda Peli, introduced Olmert to Talansky.
Talansky, who was executive director of the American Committee for Shaare
Zedek Medical Center for over 20 years, is believed to have met Olmert during this period. Olmert frequently attended Shaare Zedek dinners and other fundraising events sponsored by the Jerusalem-based hospital.
Talansky's associates have recently denied reports that he was a right-wing activist who was acting against Olmert for ideological reasons. They said Olmert and Talansky kept close ties even after Olmert modified his political approach and supported the disengagement.
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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt...ntrassID=0
Prosecution: Talansky won't testify if U.S. doesn't give him immunity
By Tomer Zarchin and Ofra Edelman, Haaretz Correspondents
The Jerusalem District Prosecutor on Wednesday informed the Jerusalem District Court that Morris Talansky - the key witness in the graft probe against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - will not return to Israel for further testimony until an immunity deal with American authorities is reached.
Jerusalem District Attorney Eli Abarbanel told the court that, until now, American authorities have not supplied an answer to Talansky's request for immunity against self-incrimination.
Abarbanel informed the court that he spoke with Talansky's Israeli attorney Jack Chen, who told him that Talansky had not yet purchased a plane ticket to travel to Israel despite being scheduled to testify on Sunday.
Abarbanel added that it would have been better if Olmert's attorneys had finished their cross-examination of Talansky last month. The prime minister's associates responded by calling that claim absurd since they are still reviewing evidence passed to them by the prosecution.
The prime minister's media adviser, Amir Dan, said that the prosecution is in trouble because Talansky proved to be an unreliable witness and that his efforts to evade further cross-examination only support that.
State Comptroller slams Olmert
State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of further improprieties during the period when he served as the minister of industry, trade and labor.
Lindenstrauss said that during Olmert's tenure, over which he has already been investigated for alleged corruption, his aides at the ministry pressured its Investment Center management to advance investment plans and approve grants for entrepreneurs and industrialists in violation of labor regulations and procedures.
The state comptroller referred to a report released on Wednesday that focuses on Olmert's involvement in and approval of a tourism project called Aquaria, a planned recreation park that was to be built north of Eilat by entrepreneur Ran Peker.
According to the report, Olmert and his associates pressed for funding for Aquaria, despite the fact that the project did not prove its economic feasability.
"This incident is in addition to similar cases in which trade minister Ehud Olmert intervened, whether directly or indirectly via his assistants, in the activity of the Investment Center," read part of the state comptroller's report.
Aquaria had originally been planned by American entrepreneurs as a joint Israeli-Jordanian project, who later recommended it be implemented only in Israel. The project was to spread across 1,300 dunams north of Eilat, on land currently being leased to Kibbutz Eilot. The original budget had been $350 million, but was then reduced to $100 million.
The State Comptroller's Office investigated the Aquaria project for nearly a year. The report examined the Israel Land Administration's and several of the ministries involvement in the project, finding improprieties in their handling of the project.
In earlier probes of Olmert's tenure as trade minister, the state comptroller suspected Olmert of illicitly arranging investment opportunities for friends, claiming that he had discussed most of the requests submitted by clients of his close friend, attorney Uri Messer, and saw to it that they received benefits worth tens of millions of shekels.
In all the cases mentioned in the initial expose, Olmert took part in meetings with the entrepreneurs and Messer on the one hand, and with trade ministry officials on the other. Despite the possible conflict of interest, Olmert did not disqualify himself from discussing applications advancing the business interests of his close friend Messer.
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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1002018.html
Olmert confidant refused to answer questions about cash that premier allegedly received
By Tomer Zarchin
Attorney Uri Messer, whom police had hoped would prove a key witness in one of the investigations against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - the Morris Talansky case - has decided not to cooperate with police.
During a three-hour interrogation under caution on June 18, Messer systematically refused to answer questions about the case, in which American Jewish businessman Talansky is suspected of giving Olmert some $150,000 over the course of about a decade.
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Messer was also questioned about allegations that while serving as industry and trade minister, Olmert used his longstanding friendship with the minister to obtain unwarranted benefits from the ministry for his clients.
Haaretz has obtained the full nine-page transcript of the interrogation, excerpts of which are being published here for the first time. The transcript reveals some of the difficulties in the investigation - specifically, the difficulty in proving that Olmert was aware of all the links along the chain that Talansky's money traveled.
Messer served as trustee for two bank accounts during the period in question: one to finance Olmert's successful campaign for mayor of Jerusalem, and one to finance his unsuccessful run for the Likud Party chairmanship. Police are still not certain exactly how much money from Talansky made its way into these accounts via Olmert's former office manager, Shula Zaken.
The interrogation began with Messer announcing that he had no intention of answering any more of the police's questions, because things he had said "off the record, man to man" during previous interrogations had been published on the front pages of newspapers in early June.
"Until now, I have fully answered all the questions you asked me, both 'on the record' and 'off the record,'" Messer said. "And then, two weeks ago, I saw things I told you 'off the record,' man to man, in the lead headline of the paper. For me, that was a watershed. It hurt me very deeply, and therefore, I do not intend to continue answering questions beyond what I have answered to date."
Superintendents Iris Barak and Tzachi Chavkin responded that they, too, deplored the leaks, and urged him not to foil their efforts to get to the bottom of the case due to the media reports. But Messer was adamant.
"First, everything I say here sooner or later reaches the media," he complained. "Second, I was very deeply hurt. Something broke inside me, and it can't be healed. Therefore, I don't intend to continue answering questions beyond what I've answered to date."
Nevertheless, the investigators insisted on posing their questions.
The first question they asked related to the stash of dollars, in cash, that Messer kept for Olmert, first in a safe in his office and later in a strongbox in Bank Leumi.
"Who else had a key to the office safe?" they asked.
When Messer refused to answer, they continued: "The material we have indicates that on December 24, 2003, Talansky gave Shula Zaken a large sum of money, $72,500. Shula gave $7,500 of this money directly to Olmert, and the rest, $65,000, she gave to you. We would like you to give us details about this large sum that Shula gave you ... What did you do with the money after you received it?"
When Messer again refused to answer, they tried a different tack: "During your [previous] interrogations, you said that you spoke with Talansky several times about the money Talansky gave to Shula and Olmert, which afterward came to you. For instance, in your interrogation of April 30, 2008, you said: 'From my conversations with Talansky, I was able to understand that the money Talansky gave Shula Zaken was transferred to me to keep for Olmert.' Which of the sums that Talansky transferred did the two of you discuss?"
Later, Barak and Chavkin asked Messer when exactly he returned a sum of $150,000 to Olmert, via Zaken. During his previous interrogations, Messer had said that he did so after he decided to stop serving as Olmert's banker.
They also asked him for details about a document in their possession detailing his visits to the strongbox in Bank Leumi. Again, Messer refused to answer.
Next, they asked about money that was transferred from Talansky's account in America to one of the Bank Leumi accounts for which Messer served as trustee - the one that financed Olmert's bid for the Likud leadership. These included a $60,000 transfer on June 17, 1999, a $50,000 transfer on June 21, 1999, and another transfer - for which the transcript gives no date - of 25,000 pounds sterling. Messer replied that he had nothing to say.
"What involvement in and/or knowledge of these transfers ... or of the use made of this money, did Olmert have?" the investigators continued, again with no response.
Barak and Chavkin also asked about the deficit that accrued in the account of the United Jerusalem organization, which financed the bulk of Olmert's campaign for mayor of Jerusalem.
During his previous interrogations, they noted, Messer had said that money received from Talansky was used to cover this deficit. That money was supposed to have been used only as collateral for the debt, but in early 2002, when no other way of covering the deficit had been found, the Talansky money was used to repay the debt.
"Isn't it true that Talansky asked you when the money would be returned to him?" they demanded.
The investigators also charged that "the entire construct" of the account in which the Talansky money was deposited - the one for which Messer served as trustee, and which served as collateral for United Jerusalem's debts - was intended from the start to deceive the state comptroller by concealing the true source of the money that was ultimately used to pay off the organization's debts.
When Messer declined to be drawn into responding, the interrogators asked why he had agreed to pay the fine that the comptroller levied on United Jerusalem, rather than covering the deficit with the funds in the Talansky account. Once again, Messer refused to answer.
Should Olmert be indicted, police can still call Messer to the witness stand on the basis of his earlier police interrogations, during which he gave detailed answers to the questions he was asked. Should he refuse to answer questions in court, he could be declared a hostile witness, which would enable prosecutors to submit his earlier police testimony to the court as evidence.
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http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasen/spages/995434.html
Last update - 11:36 23/06/2008
Police off to U.S. to quiz Olmert's son, others in corruption probe
By The Associated Press
Tags: Ehud Olmert, Morris Talansky
Police say Israeli investigators have left for the U.S. to question people in connection with the corruption probe involving Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The premier's son, Shaul Olmert, is also expected to face questioning, Israel Radio reported Monday.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says the investigators flew to the U.S. on Monday and are expected to be there about two weeks. He had no further details.
But Israel Radio reported that the officers will conduct inquiries at offices, banks and hotels in New York, Washington and Las Vegas.
The key witness in the case is Jewish American businessman Morris Talansky. He has testified to giving the Israeli leader hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash. No charges have been filed yet in the case, and Olmert denies wrongdoing.
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http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasen/spages/986493.html
Last update - 12:15 23/05/2008
Talansky misleads court in collateral bid to leave Israel before deposition
By Uri Blau
Tags: Morris Talansky, Ehud Olmert
The central witness in the investigation against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, American businessman Morris Talansky, told a Jerusalem court on Wednesday that he was willing to mortgage his Jerusalem apartment as collateral to ensure his return to Israel to testify.
However, Haaretz has learned that the apartment Talansky referred to does not belong to him, and thus the evidence presented to the court by his lawyer was misleading.
"For years now, he [Talansky] has visited his family in Israel frequently, an average of three or four times a year. In 1993, he acquired an apartment in Jerusalem which he used during his visits to Israel. Today, he is the owner of a second apartment, that which he has offered as collateral," said his lawyer, Jacques Chen, on Wednesday.
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Talansky has contested a court request that he delay his stay of exit order to deliver his deposition.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his former bureau chief, Shula Zaken had requested that the date of Talansky's testimony be delayed for two weeks.
The Jerusalem District Court on Friday avoided a stark ruling on the matter, and ordered the parties involved to find a compromise to the request.
Talansky had asked for permission to leave the country as planned and return to give his testimony in June.
"As Mr. Talansky has an urgent need to return home, he will come back to Israel a number of days before he is meant to give his early testimony? In order to ensure the honorable court of his return to Israel, Mr. Talansky is willing to mortgage his Jerusalem apartment as collateral, valued at $1,300,000," his lawyer said.
Haaretz has learned that the apartment purchased by Morris Talansky in the 1990s has been under the ownership of his son, Isaac Allan Talansky, since 2001, for which he paid his father the price of NIS 2,000,000.
"My father bought apartment No. 4 in building No. 9 on Diskin Street and sold it to me in 2001. He has used the apartment ever since and pays the bills accordingly. I am of course willing to mortgage the apartment to ensure his return to Israel". This message was sent to Jack Chen by Talansky's son only after Haaretz turned to Talansky's lawyer and the false information had already been presented to the courts.
In response, Chen said, "I have made an innocent mistake. In any case, the matter at hand is insignificant, considering the fact that the mistake will be cleared up and reported to the prosecution and a letter from Talansky's son verifying the mortgaging of the apartment to ensure Mr. Talansky's return will be sent to them as well."
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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/987492.html
ast update - 08:26 28/05/2008
Talansky: Olmert got $150,000 from me, introduced me to tycoons
By Ofra Edelman and Tomer Zarchin, Haaretz Correspondents, and Agencies
:Tags Israel, Ehud Olmert
.Morris Talansky, the American-Jewish businessman suspected of making illicit cash transfers to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said in court testimony in Jerusalem on Tuesday that he had transferred Olmert some $150,000 over 15 years, and that Olmert had tried to aid a Talansky business venture by introducing him to several American billionaires
.Olmert's lawyer Eli Zohar labeled Talansky's testimony "twisted" and said the truth would be revealed in his cross-examination set for July 17. "In general, we're saying that we're not talking about criminal activity whatsoever," Zohar said
.Talansky, 75, said there were no records of how the money he transferred was spent. "I only know that he loved expensive cigars. I know he loved pens, watches. I found it strange," Talansky told the court, then shrugged
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.However, Talansky insisted that he never expected anything in exchange
".I had a very close relationship with him, but I wish to add at this time at the relationship of 15 years was purely of admiration," he added. "I never expected anything personally. I never had any personal benefits from this relationship whatsoever"
.But later, he said he had grown disillusioned over the years
".Olmert had the ability to reach out to the American people, the largest and richest community of Jews in the world," Talansky said. "That's why I supported the man. That's why I overlooked, frankly and honestly, a lot of things. I overlooked them, maybe I shouldn't have"
.It remained unclear if Talansky's day-long testimony had significantly helped prosecutors near proof of a "smoking gun" of evidence of bribery against Olmert. Although he admitted to having given Olmert cash-filled envelopes, Talansky maintained that he had asked for nothing in return
".The businessman told the court that Olmert had asked him for donations for his 1993 Jerusalem mayoral campaign and throughout his tenure as industry and trade minister. He said the cash-filled envelopes were transferred through Olmert's former bureau chief, Shula Zaken, each one containing between $3,000 and $8,000, and that the transfers were "legitimate
.Talansky also said that Olmert volunteered to contact three billionaires, including Plaza Hotel owner Yitzhak Tshuva and Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, to try to drum up business for a hotel minibar venture run by Talansky. But Talansky said the offer did not help, and Adelson slammed down the phone on him
.I said to myself, 'I'm never going to go to a politician for business'," Talansky said with a laugh. "He wanted to do me a favor and it never worked out." Adelson, America's third richest man, was questioned in the case earlier this month during a visit to Jerusalem"
Early deposition
.In an unusual move, prosecutors had won permission to depose Talansky in court in a preliminary phase of a criminal investigation into the prime minister, in which no indictments have yet been filed
.The early testimony was requested because Talansky resides in the United States and authorities were concerned that he may not return to Israel to testify in the future. At one point during the hours-long deposition, the possibility of adjourning until Wednesday was raised. This led Talansky to break down in tears, saying he was in a rush to return to the United States due to his wife's ailing health
.Prosecutors are intent on determining whether the money Talansky donated to Olmert - suspected of reaching sums of up to $500,000 - amounted to bribery. Olmert, who stated publicly that he only received funds for campaign purposes, has promised to step down if indicted for bribery
.The unpaid loans, Talansky told Jerusalem District Court, included a $25,000-$30,000 loan used for a 2004 family vacation to Italy. Olmert never paid him back, Talansky said
.The businessman also mentioned a second loan for $15,000, which Olmert asked for during a stay at the Regency hotel in New York. Olmert refused to take a check and asked for cash, Talansky said
.Talansky said he walked to a bank four blocks away and withdrew the money. When he handed over the cash to Olmert, he asked to be repaid as soon as possible. "Famous last words," Talansky said, explaining that he was never paid back
Cash, no checks
.At the start of the deposition, Talansky said that Olmert had specifically requested donations in cash, but later amended the statement to say that Olmert had simply said he preferred not to receive the money in check form
.Talansky alleged that some of the cash he donated was used to upgrade airline tickets from business class to first class, and that he once paid $4,700 for Olmert's three-day stay at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Washington, D.C
.According to documents revealed during the deposition, that hotel bill included laundry costs, video rentals and international phone calls. This sum, the witness explained, was also a loan that was never repaid
".Olmert called him to say his own credit card was maxed out," Talansky testified. "He asked if he could borrow my card and he said it was part of a loan"
.Talansky said that he later requested the money be paid back, after which Olmert sent him the phone number of his son, who was then working at Nickelodeon Studios in the United States. The two met, and Olmert's son allegedly promised Talansky he would speak with his father. However, he said, he hadn't heard from Olmert or from his son since
No contact with Olmert as PM
.Talansky said the last payment he made to Olmert was for some $72,500 for the latter's Likud primary campaign in 2003. He said there had been no contact since Olmert became prime minister, except for a single meeting at a social function
.Testifying in English, Talansky said he first met then-health minister Olmert in the early 1990s, while the American businessman was working for the U.S. fundraising arm for Shaare Zedek, a Jerusalem hospital
.When Olmert visited New York at one point, Talansky received Olmert's room number from Zaken, and met him there to bring money, he said
.The witness said that he was told the money was needed for expenses, which he thought meant campaign needs such as advertising and posters. He estimated that he tranferred money during roughly half of his visits to the Industry and Trade Ministry
.Olmert had asked him for loans, Talansky said, and he subsequently organized New York fundraisers to help raise cash. He told prosecutors that at such events, envelopes were left on guests' chairs, and then given to Olmert and Zaken
.Talansky also testified that he had asked Olmert, who was a member of Likud at the time, why he didn't raise money through the party's fundraisers in the United States. Olmert told him that should he do so, the money would go straight to the party, Talansky said
.He said that he gave Olmert money because of his great respect for the Israeli politician, who he had believed would represent the future of Israel's leadership
.He was articulate, he was intelligent. I felt that he would be a leader that I would have hoped to be if I had the talent," Talansky said, adding that Olmert would warmly greet him during their meetings in Jerusalem"
".Whenever Shula told him I was here, no matter what, he would always come out and greet me. A hug, a big hug. He hugged me. I remember for my 70th birthday he sent me a very beautiful card. He invited me to his son's wedding"
.Talansky also spoke at length about his close relationship to Israel and to the Jewish organizations with which he has worked
.Ahead of the testimony, State Prosecutor Moshe Lador told reporters not to jump to conclusions and called media reports incorrect and irresponsible
.There is no decision. We are at the height of the investigation. The case could develop in different directions down the road - there is a possibility that the whole case could be dropped, and there is also a possibility that another decision will be made in the case," Lador said"
.Police have said the charges span a 12-year period, when Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem and minister of industry and trade. Detectives have raided Jerusalem city hall and the trade ministry and have grilled Olmert twice
.Defense attorneys representing Olmert and Zaken will be able to cross-examine Talansky on Wednesday. However, the defense lawyers said Friday that they will not cross-examine Talansky at this time, because they claim they have not been given sufficient time to examine the material collected by police investigators in the case
.The defense has said it would like Talansky to return to Israel at a later date, probably in July, for his cross-examination
.The court decided last week that Olmert and Zaken would not have to be present in court during Talansky's deposition, though the State Prosecutor's Office had sought to compel their presence, arguing that their response during the testimony would offer the judges some insight into the case
.In the Tuesday deposition, prosecutors asked Talansky about his relationship with Olmert and their meetings, both in Israel and abroad, as well as his relationship with Zaken and Olmert's former business partner, attorney Uri Messer. He was asked about people who contributed funds to Olmert that Talansky is suspected of having transferred through Zaken. In addition, he was asked about the dates when the alleged transfers were made, as well as the purpose of the funds
.During the High Court of Justice's deliberations last week on a petition by Olmert and Zaken against Talansky's planned deposition, Lador revealed evidence that he said supports the allegations against the prime minister
.Lador said that during Olmert's terms as both Jerusalem mayor and minister of industry and trade, he maintained close ties with American Jewish leaders. Talansky was actively involved in fundraising and organizing meetings with Israeli public figures, and as a result of his close relations with Olmert, he organized events for his friend
.Lador also told the court that according to the testimony Talansky gave to police investigators, he handed Olmert envelopes full of cash during short meetings between the two. According to this testimony, the requests for money came from Olmert, who also dictated the sums
".Lador said that Olmert is suspected of fraud, breach of trust, tax violations and violations of the Gifts Law. He is also suspected of not reporting his receipts of cash while he was minister of industry and trade, as required by law. Lador was careful not to say that Olmert was suspected of receiving bribes, but hinted that "if there is a reason for the money transfers, if something was offered in return, then this may be significant
Jurists: Conviction still a long shot
.Meanwhile, despite the prosecution's cautious optimism Tuesday, the investigation against Olmert is far from being a slam dunk case, legal experts warn
.Avi Lavi, a lawyer specializing in white-collar crime, said Tuesday that the state prosecution is rightly being careful in establishing the basis for crimes to be included in an indictment, should one be filed
.On the face of it, [Morris] Talansky's testimony is problematic for establishing the necessary foundation for a bribery offense, as described by law, since it requires that the money intentionally be given to a public servant in exchange for him doing something for you in his professional capacity," Lavi said. The state has to prove that specific monies and favors were given in order that Olmert would do something in return for Talansky, even if not immediately. But Talansky claims he wanted nothing in return"
.Lavi said it is easier to establish charges of fraud and breach of trust in the case of a public servant systematically receiving favors, even without any quid-pro-quo
.Talansky's testimony also indicates alleged tax evasion, since major gifts went unreported
.Prof. Ruth Kannai, a criminal law expert at Bar-Ilan University, says there is not even enough evidence yet to make a charge of breach of trust stick
".Merely receiving envelopes with money, a vacation loan, funding for hotels or flights are not necessarily a basis for conviction, although you could say that when you receive so much, in such a manner, over time, it constitutes breach of trust. It still looks to me like it's only the beginning"
.Kannai concurred with Lavi that it would be easier to establish fraud and breach of trust in view of Talansky's testimony, as opposed to bribery .
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For those who are not aware, the Sands Corporation has a long history of being connected to organized crime. Mr. Sheldon G Adelson has been mentioned in connection with Morris Talansky...
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http://finance.aol.com/company/las-vegas...IID=125355
Sheldon G. Adelson
View All Key Executives
Mr. Adelson has been Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, Treasurer and a director of the Company since August 2004. He has been Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Las Vegas Sands, LLC (or its predecessor, Las Vegas Sands, Inc.) since April 1988 when it was formed to own and operate the former Sands Hotel and Casino. Mr. Adelson has extensive experience in the convention, trade show, and tour and travel businesses. Mr. Adelson also has investments in other business enterprises. Mr. Adelson created and developed the COMDEX Trade Shows, including the COMDEX/Fall Trade Show, which was the world"s largest computer show in the 1990s, all of which were sold to Softbank Corporation in April 1995. Mr. Adelson also created and developed The Sands Expo and Convention Center, which he grew into one of the largest convention and trade show destinations in the United States before transferring it to us in July 2004. He has been President and Chairman of Interface Group Holding Company, Inc. since the mid-1970s and Chairman of our affiliate, Interface Group-Massachusetts, LLC and its predecessors, since 1990.
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And from a blog (for what it may be worth?).
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http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1...698549/pg1
srael PM Ehud Olmert,Menachem Atzmon,ICTS International,Morris Talansky Global Technologies, U.S.Stock Money Launderers, WTC,9/11/01,SwissAir 111,9/2/98
Recently the name of New York citizen Morris Talansky has been reported as an Israeli government witness against current Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for taking bribes.In fact the Israeli government had a gag order in effect that prevented mention of New York 'businessman' Morris Talansky and his role as a witness against Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a bribery investigation launched or ongoing by the Israeli government of it own Prime Minister.Right-wing Las Vegas and Macao casino owner Sheldon Adelson as well as Slim Fast's founder S. Daniel Abraham have been called to testify along with Talansky.
Daniel Abraham was previously named along with Australian billionaire Frank Lowy in regards to the Leumi Bank sale scandal that also alleges Olmert collusion in writing favorable terms for 'privitization' the of Leumi to suit them.
Parodoxically Cerberus hedge fund of Stephen Feinberg,ex U.S.Treasury Secretary John Snow,Dan Quayle and Haliburton's and Dick Cheney's Kellogg Brown and Root gang have since purchased about 10% of Leumi and allow Israeli penny stock criminals and right wing Americans such James Dale Davidson and ex CIA and Carlyle exec Frank Carlucci to use the bank for fraud and money laundering with U.S. penny stocks such as Pluristem(that claims to use stem cells from placentas for medical purposes) that Davidson promotes from the National Taxpayers Union near the Security Exchange Commission's Alexandria,Virginia office !
What the NY Post and the New York Times failed to mention among other things was Morris Talansky's coincidental investment in Global Technologies Ltd in the 1990's whose Entertainment Network(purchased from another failed NASDAQ 'company' called INTERACTIVE FLIGHT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.) was blamed for Swissair 111 crash of September 2,1998.
What is even stranger is the coincidence of another Israeli controlled U.S. or NASDAQ penny stock,ICTS International, that guarded Logan Airport,Boston on 9/11, was controlled and managed by Menachem Atzmon who was also convicted of money laundering for his and Netanyahu's and Ehud Olmert's Likud Party.So both Olmert's old money laundering pals,Talansky and Atzmon,appear to also dabble in airline 'security',
airline entertainment,spy satelites,etc..
And besides rumors that Mr.Talansky passed hundreds of thousands of dollars from anonymous donors passed through Talansky - the most disturbing fact to me is that most if not all of this corrupt money appears to derive from U.S. 'securities' or stock fraud against misinformed and deceived investors. I have already written,before news of Talansky 's involvement with Olmert was reported, about Olmert's involvement with both Michael Zwebner and his fraudulent Air Water Corp or UCSY U.S. penny stock scam that claims to manufacture machines that extract water from the air but only steals money by promoting and selling worthless U.S. penny stock shares and laundering through offshore accounts from the Cayman Islands to Liechtenstein to Israel ! The same goes ditto for Israeli Menachem Atzmon's ICTS International that used U.S. NASDAQ and defrauded investors to promote their worthless shares upon the U.S. market and besides feathering their own offshore accounts with the scam could even buy U.S. Huntliegh airport rent-a-cops and the contract to guard 9/11 up to and during the WTC tragedy of 9/11/01 ! Mr.Atzmon had already been convicted of the equivalent of money laundering between Israeli government and Likud Party accounts that Ehud Olmert barley escaped being charged with as well and yet the U.S. government allowed him and his Israeli 'business' partners to open up and incorporate ICTS International and to guard our most sensitive strategic real estate - Logan Airport,the WTC,etc. ! And all done and funded by ripping off investors with U.S. penny stock scams ! Even Ehud Olmert's partner Michael Zwebner of Air Water Corp fame had developed such a reputation for his sleazy 'business' practices in the UK before immigrating to the U.S. and Florida to operate U.S. penny stock money laundering operations that it should be a major embarrassment to the U.S. SEC or Securities Exchange Commission that has condoned such criminal activities with U.S. securities or penny stocks FOR YEARS BEFORE AND AFTER 9/11/01 !
It appears that the U.S. 'public company ' Global Technologies Ltd that Morris Talansky was an insider and beneficiary of even before it purchased Interactive Flight Technologies Inc whose inflight 'Entertainment Network' wiring may have been what brought Swissair flight 111 to its knees and to the death of all passengers onboard on 9/2/98 may well have played a roll in bankrolling now Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel.And Global Technologies appears designed, like Menachem Atzmon's,et.al.'s ICTS International that 'guarded' Logan Airport in Boston on 9/11/01 to be a money losing share
'distributing' or dumping operation whose very shares could be used not only to defraud investors - mainly Americans - as well as to launder money - including bribes to Israeli politicians such as PM Ehud Olmert and no doubt for influencing U.S. politicians with more bribes-donations to them as well !
Note that while I am not saying that Menachem Atzmon's ICTS International purposefully allowed 9/11 to happen or that Morris Talansky's,et.al.'s Global Technologies Ltd and its Entertainment Network purposely short circuited the Swissair 111's electric circuits - I am saying that they were both funded with money from deceived investors and using that money to influence both U.S. and Israeli government officials in their own favor as they continue to do to this day.I am also saying that individuals or corporations formed in the U.S. for the purpose of defrauding investors as in the case of Atzmon's et.al.'s ICTS International that has even sought an IRS tax rebate for all the dollars the ripped off U.S. investors and after presiding over the 'security' of some of U.S.' MOST STRATEGIC REAL ESTATE PRE 911.
ICST International has been coddled and protected at every level of the U.S. government from 'our' court system in New York by Judge Albert Hellerstein all the way to the White House and its political appointments to the U.S. IRS and the DOJ such as ex Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and now U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey who like Judge Alvin Hellerstein and Talansky and so many more politically governmentally connected individuals within spheres of influence in covering up 9/11/01 - are right wing Jews('Orthodox' or otherwise) - who have more allegiance to Israel than the U.S. itself - thus people like Talansky are traitors - but not to Israel because they are U.S. citizens ! They are traitors not to Israel but to the U.S..
Talansky also has given political donations to the Clintons,Rudy Giuliani and others.It should not be surprising that U.S. Attorney General Mukasey as well as his step son Marc Mukasey are also part of Giuiani's pro white collar penny stock crime law firm.
PM Olmert has also been connected with Israeli Menahem Eitan of the Xybernaut U.S. penny stock pump and dump fraud who has defended Olmert's interests as a member of Israel's Winograd Committee investigation into 2006 war with Lebanon.Menahem Eitan who may be related to Rafael Eitan of the Jonathan Pollard spy scandal and is or was also a witness in Olmert's defense of corruption charges surrounding purchase of Olmert's Jerusalem apartment.Unfortunately the Israeli Menahem Eitan turns out to have used U.S. penny stock market for illegal pump and dump activities and probable money laundering along with ex Virginia Governor and Senator George Allen and Bill Clinton's first Jewish Ambassador to Morocco,Marc Ginsberg of Fox News and Huffington Post 'Middle East expert'fame.
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Although I do find find Morris Talansky's name attached to this old
Global Resources Group Inc. NASDAQ or penny stock company it appears as if the companies description of its activities in the 1990's paralels that of Mr.Morris Talanksy and his business associates - i.e.-satelite
communications.Talanksy and or his
Global Resources Group out of New York was coincidentally in litigation in NY court with Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd.'s ImageSat that although a 'public' company is also an or the Israeli government's own piece of the military industrial complex.
Some reporters or bloggers have suggested Talansky who is set to give testimony re Olmert and his funding of Olmert's political activities as mayor of Jerusalem or during his time as head of Ministry of Industry is a way of getting revenge on Olmert who isn't far enough right or 'orthodox' for some.However Talansky denies this but has actually hinted that he thought his life in danger due to his cooperation with Israel fraud investigators
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14
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