Fraud unit digs into Olmert's past

JERUSALEM, May 14 (UPI) -- Israeli investigators removed documents Tuesday from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's former office at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, police said.

Olmert, who headed the ministry from 2003 to 2006, is under investigation for his dealings with New York financier Morris Talansky, The Jerusalem Post reported. Investigators are trying to determine whether he got payoffs from Talansky from the 1990s through 2005 in return for helping him with business deals.

Detectives from the National Fraud Unit also searched Jerusalem municipal offices on Monday. Olmert was mayor from 1993 to 2003.

Talansky was questioned Monday evening at the fraud unit office. When he came out, he refused to comment to waiting reporters on the investigation, saying only, "Here we go again."