Many are wondering how police managed to persuade attorney Uri Messer to cooperate in the investigation against his longtime associate, law office partner and friend, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

As it becomes increasingly evident that the prime minister will be facing a criminal indictment, more facts in the case are being leaked to the media, including the testimony by Messer.

Apparently, police used the well-known ‘good-guy – bad-guy’ routine, presenting Messer with diaries and emails from Shula Zaken, Olmert’s longtime assistant, telling him that they have already compiled all the evidence they need in the case to move ahead with an indictment and his failure to cooperate would just leave him out in the cold, facing possible charges too. Police told Messer that Zaken told all she knows, incriminating the prime minister and others in the case.

According to unofficial but reliable information, Messer has indeed been forthcoming, providing police with a wealth of information regarding the goings-on in dealings with Moshe Talansky and his envelopes filled with cash. Messer was quoted as saying however that everything that he did was within the framework of the law.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)