Police questions Olmert over Leumi affair

09/10/2007 source almanartv National Fraud Unit investigators arrived at Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Jerusalem residence on Tuesday morning in order to question him over suspicions that he altered a government tender for the privatization of Bank Leumi to favor a bid lodged by a consortium controlled by his friends. On Monday, Major General Yohanan Danino, head of the Israel Police's Investigations and Intelligence Office, met with the team of investigators, which is led by National Fraud Unit chief Brigadier-General Shlomi Ayalon. Olmert has cleared two days off his schedule for the investigation. At the end of his investigation, the police will form an opinion on the case, which could take a number of weeks, and present it to the State Prosecutor's Office. The suspicions surfaced in 2005 when Olmert served as acting finance minister. Olmert is suspected of having sought to advance a bid for the controlling share of the bank filed by Frank Lowy and Daniel Abrams. Attorney General Menachem Mazuz ordered the police to probe Olmert's conduct during the bank's privatization. Investigators will present the prime minister with a line of questions and try to determine whether he tried to convince Lowy and Abrams to take part in the tender and what his motives were.