JERUSALEM — He usually insisted on cash. As an up-and-coming Israeli politician, Ehud Olmert allegedly once summoned a wealthy Long Island contributor to the Regency hotel in New York and asked for $15,000 to cover campaign expenses.
Taken aback but too heavily invested to ask questions, Morris Talansky said, he walked four blocks to a bank and withdrew the money while Israel's future prime minister waited at the hotel. "I said I would give him a check, and he said he needed cash," Talansky recalled in court, rolling his eyes.
The American's testimony Tuesday riveted Israelis as prosecutors sought to portray Olmert as a corrupt, high-rolling favor trader who received as much as $500,000 in illicit funds when he was mayor of Jerusalem and a member of parliament.
Olmert has not been charged, and legal experts said it was unclear whether Talansky's testimony could form the centerpiece of an indictment.
But the picture that emerged, of an ambitious politician with a weakness for fine cigars and first-class travel who allegedly demanded envelopes stuffed with cash, was a damaging blow, even in a country where high-level corruption is presumed to be common. It added to a sense among Israelis that the prime minister's days are numbered, even as he tries to rally their support for peace efforts with the Palestinians and Syria.
Talansky, a 75-year-old rabbi-turned-investor and fundraiser for Jewish causes, said he turned over about $150,000 to Olmert, directly and through political aides, at meetings in New York and Jerusalem over a 15-year period. He said he gave because he admired Olmert's leadership qualities and never asked for or received anything in return.
Eight hours of dramatic testimony left the white-haired witness emotionally drained and twice in tears. He told a packed courtroom that Olmert's preference for cash over checks "disturbed" him. His money helped pay for an Italian vacation and other private Olmert family expenses, Talansky said.
On one occasion in 2004, he said, he paid Olmert's $4,700 bill for a three-night private stay at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Washington after the future prime minister called to say his credit card had "maxed out." Olmert took that money and the $15,000 handed to him at the Regency in New York in the 1990s as personal loans, but never repaid, Talansky said.
"Talansky's account speaks volumes, and many now ask themselves if Olmert is the person they want heading the government," said Limor Livnat, a legislator from the right-wing opposition Likud party.
