Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was sentenced to six years in prison on Tuesday for his involvement in a bribery scandal. He was convicted of two counts of bribery in March for accepting money to assist a residential property project while he was mayor of Jerusalem. He was also ordered to pay one million shekels (about $290,000). Judge David Rozen was damning as he described the former leader’s crimes. “A public servant who accepts bribes is akin to a traitor,” he said. Olmert’s involvement in this scandal and other corruption charges forced him to resign as prime minister in 2008. The maximum sentence for his conviction was seven years. Prosecutor Yonatan Tadmor said: “The fact that the defendant served in the highest position does not serve as immunity for him in the face of punishment as for all people. The opposite.”
Read it at Haaretz
