State attorney tosses case charging former PM of providing classified documents to book publisher from prison while he was writing a new book; despite charges being correct, Olmert was in touch with military censor, documents were only seen by publisher.
Tova Tzimuki
The State Attorney’s Office decided Tuesday to close the criminal case involving the leaking of classified documents by former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to the Yedioth Books publishing house for his new book.
The decision was recommended by the Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and no further criminal proceedings will be pursued on the matter.
The investigation began when it came to light last May that Olmert, who was at the time incarcerated at Maisyahu Prison for corruption, gave classified documents, via his lawyer, to the Yedioth Books publishing house as well as to other sources not cleared to view such documents.
State Attorney Shai Nitzan confirmed that Olmert did in fact provide classified documents to unauthorized sources for the purpose of the book he was writing, thereby violating prison and security protocol and enabling the leaking of secret information.
Nevertheless, Nitzan took into account that Olmert only provided the documents to people working on the publication of his book and highlighted that Olmert and the relevant parties were in constant contact with the Military censors with regards to its publication. Olmert, Nitzan determined, acted according to the censor’s instructions.
Furthermore, Nitzan’s office also took into account the complete cooperation between Olmert and his publisher with the security establishment to prevent the disclosure of any classified material.