Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may think going to America is an escape from investigations here but investigators are heading to the US to continue their work there as well.
Detectives from the National Fraud Unit will travel to the US “in the coming days” to continue the criminal investigation, Israel Police confirmed. An Israel Police spokesman said the detectives would be "concentrating on their own lines of investigation” to track down additional donors who sent New York businessman Morris Talansky money to pass on to Olmert.
“They're going to check who is behind the big money that Talansky raised. Talansky acted as fund-raiser, funneling other people's funds to Olmert,” said Israel Police Comander Moshe Mizrahi. “The police need to identify those other donors and find out what interests they represented. They will look at why these donors wanted Olmert to intervene for them. We still do not know who they are."
Though news of the scandal has quieted down some this week, the investigation is getting wider. Mizrahi said that police are nearing recommending whether Olmert should be indicted for violation of public trust, and possibly allegations of bribery.