Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been found guilty in the Holyland trial that dealt with corruption in the building of the massive luxury residential complex near the Malha Mall in Jerusalem.
Tel Aviv District Court Judge David Rosen announced the verdict Monday morning, handing down a verdict of “guilty” on charges of receiving bribes to allow contractors to proceed in construction of Holyland Park.
Olmert allegedly took the bribes from Holyland’s developers and the company Hazera Genetics during his time as Jerusalem mayor and minister of industry, trade and labor.
Of 12 defendants in the years-long trials, only three have been acquitted in the case.
The state’s witness Shmuel Dachner, who is now deceased, was also convicted in the case, as was his aide, Meir Rabin, former Deputy Mayor Eliezer Simhayoff, former city engineer Uri Sheetrit, former aide to Ehud Olmert, Shuli Zaken, and others.
Rosen slammed what he called “a corrupt political system which has decayed over years… and in which hundreds of thousands of shekels were transferred to elected officials.”