May 05, 2008	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 28, 1429

JERUSALEM, May 4: Israel’s attorney general on Sunday announced the indictment of a former finance minister and close ally of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over charges of embezzling over one million dollars.

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz published the indictment in a letter sent to parliament speaker Dalia Yitzik requesting the removal of Avraham Hirshson’s parliamentary immunity in view of the indictment.

The 37-page indictment included charges of embezzlement, graft and money laundering of over one million dollars that Hirshson had allegedly carried out when he headed the National Workers Federation between 1998 and 2005.

The former finance minister quit Olmert’s coalition government in July 2007 after the scandal was made public and his hours-long questioning by police.

Mazuz’s announcement comes as Olmert himself faces a fourth police investigation into corruption allegations after police interrogated him last Friday.—AFP