American-Jewish businessman admits funding Olmert

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Millionaire US businessman Morris Talanski admitted on Sunday that he gave financial contributions to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert but insisted he had believed they were intended for legitimate purposes.

"I never thought in any way that the money I gave was illegal or wrong," the 75-year-old Jewish-American financier told Israel's private Channel 10 television in his first public comments on a scandal facing Olmert.

"I deny emphatically that I had in mind to do business in Israel... It was never my purpose. It never crossed my mind, and it is far away from the truth," Talanski said.

"Olmert was the prince of the Likud. He was respected, and I respected him... I assume the money was for his election campaigns," he said of the prime...