Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA 9 May 2008

Israel Radio correspondent Ofir Barak reports on the 5 PM news: while the
prosecution requested that the deposition be taken behind closed doors, the
Court ruled that the deposition - including cross examination - take place
in open court. The Court noted that it was the prosecution's option to take
the early deposition but that if the deposition takes place it should be in
open court.

This development could have a dramatic effect on the timing of the entire
process.

Israeli officials want many months before AG Mazuzs decides to indict or
not. Time that PM Olmert could use to make "progress" in the so-called
"peace process".

If Talansky's testimony is devastating and PM Olmert's attorneys fail to
neutralize the testimony in cross examination in open court, the pressure to
complete the legal handling of the entire affair quickly will be tremendous.

==================
Talansky: Olmert might try to hurt me
Jerusalem District Court grant's attorney general's request to take
deposition from American businessman in investigation against prime
minister. State prosecutor tells court Talansky expressed concern PM might
send someone to hurt him
Aviram Zino YNET Published: 05.09.08, 16:28 / Israel News
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3541295,00.html

The Jerusalem District Court granted Friday Attorney General Menachem
Mazuz's request to take deposition from Morris Talansky, an American
businessman believed to have transferred funds to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
during the latter's tenure as Jerusalem mayor and as industry, trade and
labor minister.

State Prosecutor Moshe Lador told the court that Talansky "has expressed his
concern to a police officer that Olmert might send someone to hurt him."

The court noted that "while the state prosecutor stressed that it is
inconceivable to attribute to any of the respondents the intent to influence
the witness or deter him from giving testimony, given the subjective feeling
of the witness, there's a concern that this might dissuade him from
testifying."

A date for the deposition has not been scheduled at this time.

According to Lador, "Time might weaken the witness' willingness to testify
freely, particularly in view of the testimony being against someone with
whom he's been on friendly terms with for years."

Olmert is suspected of unlawfully accepting, directly and indirectly,
hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash from one or more foreign nationals
beginning in 1993, when he first ran for the office of mayor of Jerusalem
and then during his tenure as industry, trade and labor minister.

'Olmert affair blown out of proportions'
"The media carnival" surrounding the recent investigation against Olmert "is
inappropriate," legal sources familiar with the case told Ynet Friday,
adding that much of the reports on the matter are inaccurate or just plain
false.

"There is exaggerated dramatization by the media at a stage where it's still
unclear how things will develop," one source said. According to him, a more
cautious and thorough examination of the evidence is needed before any final
verdict could be delivered regarding the affair's severity.

The source also stated that reports regarding alleged bribes received by the
PM totaling millions of shekels were exaggerated as well. "We're not talking
about millions of shekels. Many of the reports are problematic, and there
are many examples for this."

Meanwhile, officials in the legal system told Ynet Friday that another round
of interrogations in the affair was scheduled to begin in the coming days.
Olmert's former bureau chief Shula Zaken will likely be questioned again,
while the prime minister himself was only due to be reinvestigated at a
later stage.

Efrat Weiss contributed to the report