Last-minute twist in Holyland trial spells new Olmert probe

The Tel Aviv District Court may postpone its verdict in the Holyland corruption trial of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, due on Monday, after the State Attorney’s Office secured the testimony of Shula Zaken, Olmert’s former bureau chief.

The last-minute legal maneuver, described by a source privy to the case as “a dramatic turn of events,” occurred after hectic negotiations between Zaken’s defense team and the State Attorney’s Office. The information provided by Zaken has led the prosecution to motion for a stay of the verdict, arguing that it is now seeking to have the police investigate new potential charges against Olmert, including obstruction of justice, witness tampering and suborning perjury.

Zaken, who turned state’s witness, is said to have conclusive and damning evidence against her former boss. The full details of the deal and the information she has against Olmert have been placed under a gag order.

During a hearing held Thursday at the Rishon Lezion Magistrates’ Court on the scope of the gag order, the police said the National Fraud Unit had launched a new investigation against Olmert and that investigators were planning to question him in the next few days. The State Attorney’s Office argued that the new investigation was “pertinent to the case and its results may prove crucial to the verdict.”

According to available details, Zaken has agreed to provide the prosecution with tapes of conversations she and her son, Nadav, had with Olmert over their mutual legal troubles.

The information on the tapes is said to have prompted hectic deliberations between State Attorney Shai Nitzan, Deputy State Attorney for criminal cases Eli Abarbanel, the Tel Aviv Prosecution’s Financial Crime Division head, Liat Ben-Ari, and the state’s lead prosecutor in the Holyland case, Yonatan Tadmor; and National Fraud Unit Commander Brig. Gen. Ephraim Bracha and Head of Investigations and Intelligence Division Commander Manny Yitzhaki.

As part of the state’s witness agreement signed with Zaken, she has agreed to plead guilty to two counts of accepting bribes amounting to 145,000 shekels ($42,000). She stands to serve 11 months in prison and pay a NIS 25,000 ($7,400) fine. The state will also seize NIS 75,000 ($21,430) from her bank account, as well as jewelry and artwork Zaken had received from Shmuel Dechner, a real estate developer who turned state’s witness in the Holyland case. Dechner died in early 2013.

As part of the deal, the state agreed to drop its planned appeal over Zaken’s acquittal in two other criminal cases in which she was named as Olmert’s co-defendant, the first involving cash payments he allegedly received from American businessman Morris Talansky, and the second involving the fraudulent use of a double-billing system concerning Olmert’s travels.

Attorneys Ofer Bartal and Dov Gilad Cohen, who represent Zaken, said in a statement that turning state’s witness was “very hard for her, as she has always been fiercely loyal to Olmert. Nevertheless she has agreed to help the prosecution bring the truth to light in all the caseS she has been involved with, including testifying in court.”

“After being subjected to manipulation and extortion by several individuals for years, Mrs. Zaken has decided to join the efforts made by law enforcement authorities to expose the truth and do her part to eradicate corruption. We thank the State Attorney’s Office for their patience in this matter and for the courage they have demonstrated in pursuing this plea bargain,” the statement said.

Bartal further described the tapes Zaken has of Olmert as “objective and admissible evidence that speak for themselves.”

Amir Dan, the former prime minister’s communications adviser, leveled harsh criticism at the legal ploy exercised by the State Attorney’s Office mere days before the verdict in the case.

“This deal, struck on the eve of the verdict, is nothing but a prosecution-sanctioned obstruction of justice. The state is so concerned about the results of this trial that it has agreed to sign off on this outrageous deal with a defendant who has admitted to receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes … just to have her incriminate Olmert.

“This deal was signed by the same [state] attorneys who just days ago attacked Zaken’s credibility and argued that this very testimony is not worth the paper it’s written on.

“We reiterate that Mr. Olmet did not try to obstruct the Holyland trial in any way and this will come out it court. Unfortunately, it seems that in the attempts to persecute Olmert [the state] is willing to trample all over truth, justice and his basic human rights, as well as taint the legal process, beyond redemption.”

Legal experts outlined three possible scenarios for the Holyland case following the recent developments in the trial. In the first, the court may grant the state’s motion for a stay of verdict, hear Zaken’s testimony against Olmert and render a verdict at a later date. In the second, the court may deny the state’s motion and render the verdict on Monday as planned, in which case, the judge will have to revise the verdict concerning Zaken. In the third, the state may wait for the conclusion of the Holyland trial and file new charges against Olmert for obstruction of justice, witness tampering and suborning perjury.

Sources in the State Attorney’s Office said the prosecution may also seek to postpone its appeal proceeding in the Talansky and the double-billing cases, which are currently being heard by the Supreme Court, pending Zaken’s new testimony.