Police questioning sparks calls for Israeli PM to step aside
Last Updated: Friday, May 2, 2008 | 12:03 PM ET
CBC News
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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is facing calls to temporarily step aside after being questioned by police Friday in connection with corruption allegations.
Police spent about an hour and a half with Olmert at his official residence in Jerusalem. It's not known why he was questioned. Olmert has been questioned in the past about real estate deals and political appointments, but has not been charged with any offence.
Police on Wednesday had requested an urgent meeting with Olmert after receiving special permission from the country's attorney general, reported Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Labour member Shelly Yachimovich, whose party forms a large block of Olmert's ruling coalition government, said Olmert should suspend his duties immediately.
"It has been proven beyond any doubt that the prime minister can't be under serial investigations and also suspected of crimes and also lead the country," she told Israel Radio.
Meretz-Yachad party chair Zehava Gal-On has also called on Olmert to temporarily step aside.
Gideon Sa'ar, the chair of the opposition Likud party, urged the Labour party to drop out of the coalition, calling it a "government under suspicion."
In a statement issued Thursday, Olmert said he would work with police.
"The prime minister intends to fully co-operate with law enforcement officials as he has in the past, and he is convinced that once the truth is disclosed in the framework of the police investigation, the suspicions against him will disappear," said the statement.
Olmert has been questioned by police several times in the past.
In one case, Olmert is suspected of buying a luxurious Jerusalem home at a substantial discount from a developer in exchange for arranging construction permits for the builder. Olmert was once mayor of Jerusalem.
In a second case, police are looking into suspicions that while he was trade minister, Olmert steered a government grant to a friend and arranged improper political appointments.
The prime minister is also suspected of trying, unsuccessfully, to rig the sale of Israel's second-largest bank in favour of two associates while he was finance minister in 2005.
Last November, the police fraud unit confiscated documents and computers from a number of locations in connection with the investigations.
With files from the Associated PressShare Tools
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