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holyland affair

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.Ehud Olmert in jail for bribery

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.

Former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert has been convicted of bribery in a case which forced him to resign to office in 2008.

Ehud Olmert was convicted in what is known as the “Holyland affair” in which bribes were paid and received to speed up a luxury property development.

Ehud Olmert has been convicted of bribery in a case which forced him to resign to office in 2008

Ehud Olmert has been convicted of bribery in a case which forced him to resign to office in 2008 (photo Flash90)

The 68-year-old former prime minister has already been cleared in several other corruption trials.

He had denied wrongdoing and had hinted at a political comeback.

Delivering the verdict in Tel Aviv on Monday, Judge David Rozen said the case “exposed governance that grew more corrupt and rotten over the years”, with bribes paid to public officials,” the Associated Press news agency reported.

Former Kadima party leader Ehud Olmert succeeded Ariel Sharon as prime minister after the latter had a stroke in January 2006. He was mayor of Jerusalem from 1993 to 2003.

In 2012, Ehud Olmert was cleared of two major corruption charges but convicted of illegally granting favors to a business friend during his time as trade and industry minister under Ariel Sharon.