Ehud Olmert: Israel ex-PM Sentenced to 18 Months in Jail for Bribery

Israel’s ex-PM Ehud Olmert has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for bribery.

Ehud Olmert, 70, had been sentenced to six years by a lower court in 2014, but this was reduced by the Supreme Court.

He was convicted over a real estate deal that took place while he served as mayor of Jerusalem, prior to becoming prime minister in 2006.

Ehud Olmert, who stepped down in 2009, will become the first former Israeli head of government to go to prison.

He is due to begin his sentence on February 15.

The Supreme Court acquitted Ehud Olmert of receiving a 500,000-shekel ($130,000) bribe from the developers of Holyland, a controversial block of flats in Jerusalem, after he appealed against the March 2014 conviction.

A separate conviction of illicitly taking a 60,000-shekel payment for another project was upheld.

Ehud Olmert said following the ruling: “A heavy weight was lifted from my chest today, when the Supreme Court exonerated me of the main charge, of Holyland.

“No bribe was ever offered to me and I never accepted one.”

Several other government officials and businesspeople were convicted alongside Ehud Olmert in 2014.

The judge at the time said he was guilty of “moral turpitude”.

In a separate case, Ehud Olmert was sentenced earlier this year to eight months in prison for fraud and breach of trust for accepting illegal payments from an American businessman.

The Supreme Court is yet to rule on Ehud Olmert’s appeal in that case.