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[Tony]

"The Rishon Letzion Magistrate's Court on Thursday lifted its gag order on the identity of the 'senior official' suspected of taking bribes in the Holyland case, revealing the suspect to be none other than former prime minister Ehud Olmert, who served as mayor of Jerusalem from 1993-2003 and is already standing trial in three unrelated corruption cases.

In the new case, Olmert is suspected of taking at least NIS 3.5 million in bribes in exchange for furthering development of the Holyland luxury housing project in Jerusalem.He will soon be questioned by the police in this case, which is being termed the biggest corruption scandal in the state's history. Police say the suspicions against him are grave and well-founded.

Olmert is suspected of having taken bribes both as mayor of Jerusalem and as industry, trade and labor minister, a post he held from 2003-2006. As industry minister, he presided over both the Israel Lands Administration and the Small Business Administration.

Police suspect that Olmert used his position as mayor in the 1990s to get municipal officials, both elected and appointed, to approve the Holyland project in the format requested by the entrepreneur, businessman Hillel Charney. Among other things, Olmert allegedly helped to secure the project's approval by the local planning and building committee and to remove various other bureaucratic obstacles."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1163458.html

Gee, I thought only Arafat was supposed to have been a crook.