Olmert's comments to ethics panel shed light on probes against him - Haaretz

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Sun., November 04, 2007 Cheshvan 23, 5768

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		Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. (Tess Scheflan)

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Olmert's comments to ethics panel shed light on probes against him

By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent

tags: Ehud Olmert

Comments that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made to a committee proposing ethical standards for cabinet members shed light on his positions regarding the police investigations he currently faces.

Haaretz has obtained comments by Olmert that touch on issues from political appointments and conflict of interest to the relationship between ministers and their officials.

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he committee, which Olmert appointed about 18 months ago, is chaired by former Supreme Court president Meir Shamgar. It is scheduled to submit its final report in a few weeks.

Based on his comments, the prime minister's main message to the committee was that there is no binding standard for ministerial behavior.

"Sometimes we impose on the public things that are intolerable, and sometimes we leave a loophole you could drive a truck through," he said.

The other two members of the committee are Prof. Asa Kasher and Prof. Gabriela Shalev. Olmert announced its establishment on June 25, 2006, the day that Corporal Gilad Shalit was abducted, emphasizing that he had wanted to appoint the body even before the election.

From the beginning, the main force behind the measure has been Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel, then an aide to Olmert. Over the past several weeks, judicial figures have been commenting to the committee on the report.

Olmert currently is facing police investigations into suspicions of prohibited political appointments to the Trade and Industry Ministry's Small Business Administration, conflict of interest in the ministry's Investment Center and inappropriate interference in the privatization of Bank Leumi. While Olmert barely addressed any of the affairs in his testimony before the Shamgar Committee, his statements provide an indirect peek into his positions on such issues.

On the topic of political appointments, Olmert told the committee, "It is legitimate if it is within reasonable bounds." He said cabinet ministers should be permitted to make "loyalty appointments" as long as they are publicized, and as long as they end when the minister's term ends. "I am in favor of transparency much more than some prohibition that is impossible to obey," he told the committee.

Olmert made extensive reference to the flap surrounding Accountant General Yaron Zelekha. "What do you think, that it's normal? The accountant general mounts a campaign against the prime minister, against his own minister and against the entire country and I don't have the authority to tell him, 'Go away and go to hell,' and the public can sit in judgment while he wages a public debate?"

Olmert added, "And then there's this new invention whereby if someone wants to fire him, if the cabinet that appointed him concludes that it doesn't have faith in him, like when the directors general of the ministries appealed to me in writing and asked me to fire him, then the state comptroller comes and says that there's some stupid law that lets the comptroller prevent the dismissal of someone who fights corruption."

On the topic of party funding, Olmert said he thinks the current law is not in tune with present-day reality. "Maybe a higher threshold should be set, but with feasible transparency guidelines," he said. "Make it so that a citizen who earned his bread honestly can make a donation of half a million or a million shekels on the eve of elections, and the Central Elections Committee publishes all the contributions in the media. [Arcadi] Gaydamak wants to give me a donation, so let the public know. Ze'ev Rosenstein [who in June was sentenced to three years in prison for the attempted assassination of two organized-crime rivals] gives a million shekels - tell everyone. That seems to me to much more fair, only less self-righteous and bombastic, than the accepted norms in Israel today," Olmert said.

Olmert expressed a clear position on the issue of conflicts of interest, as well. He brought in as an example the case of committee member Gabriela Shalev, who taught him at university and was his adviser when he served as health minister.

"How should I behave if she appears along with the university heads [Shalev is the president of the Academic Council and rector of Ono Academic College] and asks me to make a certain decision?" he asked. "I wouldn't have a problem making the decision even if was contrary to her requests, because we are both adults. We have an excellent relationship, but there are no favors. But I could expect to read in the paper the next day that she's my friend, that she worked with me 30 years ago, and Yoav Yitzhak will petition the High Court and Ometz [a good-government organization] will petition the High Court and the state comptroller will investigate. So where's the boundary? I could simply tell everyone that we know each other. If, after that, it turns out that we have financial investment ties, then I cheated the entire world and did not exercise proper disclosure, but if not - then what's the big deal?" Olmert told the committee.

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