Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert testified before the Jerusalem District Court at his trial Monday, this time discussing the funding of his trips abroad while in office.
Regarding the “Rishontours” affair, in which Olmert is accused of systematically double and triple billing public institutions and the state for trips that he took abroad, the former PM stated that he did not handle the booking.
“Does anyone really think that an acting prime minister would sit down with a calculator and do the math?” he asked the court.
“If a mistake was in fact made, and it doesn’t matter by whom, the number one man in responsible. But regarding personal liability in the sense of criminal intent to make a profit? Did I wish to defraud ALEH? AKIM?” Olmert asked emotionally.
Olmert said he was aware that he had to finance private trips on his own. Olmert claimed that at one point Shula Zaken, his bureau chief, told him he had accumulated a debt at “Rishontours.”
“I would give a check when I was told that I have to pay,” he said. “I didn’t deal with the calculations of how much it did or didn’t cost.”
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