The Investigations Into Ehud Olmert

Ehud Olmert has faced five investigations since he became the prime minister of Israel in early 2006.

All the cases relate to the years before Olmert took over as leader, and he has denied any wrongdoing in each. Although he has faced several calls to resign, he has not been charged with any crime.

In the latest - and apparently most serious – case, investigators are trying to determine whether he broke campaign finance and bribery laws by accepting at least $150,000 (£75,000) in donations from a US businessman, Morris Talansky.

Talansky has told a Jerusalem court that he handed Olmert envelopes stuffed with cash over a 15-year period including the time during which the politician was the trade minister and mayor of Jerusalem.

Olmert has said they were legitimate campaign contributions.

Police are also investigating accusations that Olmert gave favors in return for a discount on the purchase price of an apartment he bought in Cremieux Street, Jerusalem, in 2004.

Investigators suspected that Olmert, who had been mayor of Jerusalem for a decade until 2003, helped arrange favours in the form of building permits for the real estate firm that brokered the deal.

In October 2007, police began an investigation into his conduct while he was minister for industry, trade and labor in 2003, studying allegations that he may have appointed friends and associates to positions in a state business authority.

Police also investigated his conduct as the finance minister during the privatization of the state-owned Bank Leumi.

The tender for the sale of the bank was issued in November 2005, and there were claims that Olmert changed the terms of the sale to benefit an Australian businessman and friend although, in the end, the businessman did not make a bid for the bank.

Olmert was questioned by fraud investigators but police closed the case in November 2007, saying there was not enough evidence to proceed.

He was also investigated over his sale of an apartment in Jerusalem, but in March 2006 the state comptroller cleared him of any wrongdoing. A second investigation was begun over his purchase of an apartment in Tel Aviv in 2005, but that case was closed in early 2008.

Separate to the legal investigations, the Israeli government's conduct of the war in Lebanon in 2006 was criticized by the Winograd committee, an official Israeli inquiry into the conflict.

The committee found "serious failings and shortcomings" in the country's political and military leadership and in the first part of its report, about the opening days of the war, said Olmert bore "supreme and comprehensive responsibility" for the failings.