Israel Matzav

'Pigs get rich, hogs get slaughtered'

And it looks like Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert is a hog.

Friday's third round of police questioning of Olmert has turned up a new 'avenue of investigation': Double Triple Quadruple... Quintuple? dipping.

The questioning lasted more than two hours, and afterward, police issued a news release announcing that the probe had widened.

"While serving as mayor of Jerusalem and as minister of industry and trade, (Olmert) is suspected of seeking funding for flights abroad in his official capacity from several sources at the same time ... including the State," the statement said.

Each of these sources was asked to pay in full for the same flight, it added.

Police suspect that the "considerable sums" that remained after the flight was paid for "were transferred by Olmert to a special fund (his) travel agency [Rishon Tours] administered for him. These monies were used to finance private trips abroad by Olmert and his family," the statement said.

Olmert served as Jerusalem mayor for 10 years until 2003, when he was appointed trade minister in Ariel Sharon's government. He held that position until 2006.

While police said Olmert was not very forthcoming during the two-hour probe Friday morning, calling the atmosphere during the investigation "tense," his office said the investigation was carried in a "relaxed and comfortable" manner.

I'll bet he wasn't 'too forthcoming: For a lawyer (yes, as of today, Olmert is still a lawyer) that's grounds for disbarment.

By the way, the title of this post is a bankruptcy lawyers' quip that describes how you should go about planning your bankruptcy filing. Olmert is definitely beyond the pig stage.

Israel Radio's 4:00 Friday news reports that Olmert claims that we're 'only' talking about 6-7 trips. In the '90's, a business class (not even first class) ticket to the US cost $5000.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:54 PM