Israel police: Indict Prime Minister Olmert

JERUSALEM — The Israeli police on Sunday recommended indicting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on charges including bribe-taking, fraud and breach of trust.

The recommendation, which followed a corruption investigation that unfolded over several months, has no legal weight of its own. The decision whether to charge the prime minister lies with the attorney general, Menachem Mazuz. It is likely to come in a few weeks, after Mr. Olmert has been granted a hearing. Mr. Olmert’s lawyers immediately issued a statement that the police recommendation had “no meaning.”

Mr. Olmert has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Under intense public and political pressure, however, he pledged in July to resign as soon as his centrist Kadima Party chose a new leader. The party election is scheduled for next week, and a runoff, if required, would be on Sept. 25.

The police recommendation underscored Mr. Olmert’s standing as a lame duck and cast a thicker pall over the country’s political future and its diplomatic negotiations with the Palestinians and with Syria. Ofer Shelah of Maariv, a daily newspaper, wrote that it “will repeatedly remind us that in the weeks and maybe months ahead, Israel is without a government.”

Tzipi Livni, the foreign minister, is a leading candidate to replace Mr. Olmert. Another contender is Shaul Mofaz, a tough-talking former defense minister and army chief of staff.

Mr. Olmert is expected to stay on as a transitional prime minister until his successor forms a new governing coalition or national elections are held. That could take weeks or months.

The police recommendation involves two separate cases, both for episodes before Mr. Olmert became prime minister in early 2006. One case involves money that Mr. Olmert received, much of it as cash stuffed into envelopes, from Morris Talansky, a Long Island businessman, over more than a decade. The police said the evidence pointed to fraud, money-laundering and accepting bribes; bribery is the most serious charge Mr. Olmert could face.

Mr. Olmert has acknowledged receiving payments but said they were all legitimate donations for political campaigns. Yet Mr. Talansky testified in court here in May that some of the money was meant for Mr. Olmert’s personal use. The police say they have evidence that as a quid pro quo, Mr. Olmert tried to promote Mr. Talansky’s business interests, making introductions on the American’s behalf.