Israel's Olmert indicted on corruption charges

JERUSALEM — Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was indicted Sunday in corruption scandals that drove him to resign last year, a long-awaited legal step that made him the first current or former holder of Israel's most powerful office to be charged with a criminal offense.

The decision by Attorney General Menahem Mazuz will givhttp://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008927711_apmlisraelolmert.htmle Israelis a single judicial airing of three cases against Olmert that, along with other scandals involving senior government officials, have undermined public confidence in the country's politicians.

Olmert, 63, is accused of taking illegal cash from a political supporter, double-billing for trips and steering grants to clients of a friend and former law partner. The allegations cover a 13-year period when Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem and minister of trade and industry, but they surfaced after he became prime minister in 2006 and weighed on his capacity to lead. He has left politics.

The 61-page indictment filed in a Jerusalem court charges him with fraud, breach of trust, falsification of corporate records, receipt of illicit benefits and tax evasion. A conviction of fraud alone could mean five years in prison for Olmert.