Former Israeli PM Olmert rejects ‘innuendo’ linking him to new corruption scandal

Reports: Israel’s Olmert says he never took bribes

JERUSALEM — Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that he rejects the “innuendo” linking him to a new corruption case and told Israeli newspapers that he never took bribes.

Last week, a longtime Olmert confidant and five others were arrested in a multimillion-dollar bribery scandal. The money allegedly changed hands to promote several real-estate projects, including a large development in Jerusalem that required a radical change in zoning laws.

Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem when the bribery allegedly took place. It is not clear whether he was implicated because there is a partial gag order on the case.

Olmert told Army Radio on Sunday, “I reject the innuendo and the suspicions it implies. They are baseless.”

Several newspapers on Sunday quoted him as saying, “I never took bribes.”

The 63-year-old Olmert is currently abroad on business and told Army Radio that he would return at the end of the week.

Olmert was forced to resign in 2008 to battle separate corruption charges. Last week, an Israeli court suspended his trial on those charges for four weeks after his lawyers said the former Israeli leader couldn’t receive a fair hearing in the current climate.