Israeli PM Olmert accuses police of probe leaks

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert accused Israeli police on Saturday of leaking parts of a newly-revealed investigation into whether he committed fraud by submitting duplicate travel expense claims.

"The reports and the leaks that emerged a short time after the questioning constitute a grave breach of acceptable norms," Olmert told reporters on board a plane as he was about to embark for a Mediterranean Union summit in Paris.

"I was amazed by those distorted statements coming from members of law enforcement apparatus . This could only harm the public's trust," Olmert said.

He also condemned police for "the attempt to connect my family in any way," to the case.

On Friday, police said they suspected Olmert's travel agent sent invoices to various public bodies to cover Olmert's trips when he was mayor of Jerusalem and then trade minister. The result was a duplication of incoming funds, with the surplus being placed in an account used to fund Olmert and his family's private travel.

Olmert's attorney Navot Tel-Zur denied his client used public money to cover his family's travel expenses and said Olmert rejected the allegations "with both hands".

Earlier, a long-time Olmert aide who managed his travel, defended him against the accusation.

"The prime minister is not a thief and not a cheat," Rachel Risby-Raz said in a written statement a day after Olmert was quizzed by police - his third interrogation since being accused of corruption in May.

Previously he admitted taking cash from an American financier. He denied wrongdoing, describing it as campaign donations, but said he would resign if indicted.

Risby-Raz, who said she had also been questioned but was not a suspect, also said: "He did not put a shekel in his own pocket and did not use public funds for his family."

It was a rare, outspoken vote of confidence for Olmert, who has been forced to agree to a leadership election within his centrist Kadima party in September in order to appease allies in Kadima and in his main coalition partner, the Labour party.

Israeli media said AKIM Israel, a charity that supports the mentally disabled and the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum were among the organisations Olmert allegedly defrauded.

AKIM's chairman Reuven Samuel, said that if Olmert were convicted, "I will tell Mr. Olmert to look in the mirror and see what kind of person he sees."

STRATEGY?

Among those Olmert will meet in Paris are French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The prime minister has been stressing his activity in making peace with Israel's many enemies - including opening indirect talks with Syria, whose president will be in Paris, agreeing a truce with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and arranging an exchange of prisoners and remains with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.

Some critics say the activity and U.S.-sponsored peace talks with Abbas that would be jeopardised if Olmert is forced out, form part of the prime minister's strategy to save his job.

Olmert was mayor of Jerusalem for 10 years until 2003. He later served as a cabinet minister before succeeding Ariel Sharon as prime minister in early 2006.

The initial corruption inquiry, which judicial sources say involves hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash payments over a decade from the early 1990s, broke two months ago when detectives moved at short notice to question Olmert on May 2.

In testimony on May 27, American Jewish fundraiser Morris Talansky told a Jerusalem that he had passed $150,000 to Olmert over a 15-year period, including loans that were never repaid. Olmert said the money was used legally for election campaigns.

Olmert's lawyers are due to cross-examine Talansky this coming week in Jerusalem.