Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is suspected of illicitly accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars before becoming PM, Israeli media report.

Police suspect him of unlawfully taking campaign money from a foreign businessman while mayor of Beit-ul-Moqaddas. The PM has admitted receiving help with fundraising from a U.S. businessman, but denied ever taking bribes. He said he would resign if charges were pressed.
He faces a number of investigations into corruption allegations.
The investigation into his affairs was subject to a gagging order but this was partially loosened on Thursday, police confirmed in a statement.
Olmert was questioned for an hour last Friday over the allegations, which he denied, they said.
'Not a penny'
Jewish U.S. businessman Morris “Moshe” Talansky is said to have given hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash to Olmert at a series of meetings.
According to Channel 2 TV, police said they did not know how the money was used.
Olmert said Mr Talansky had helped him raise election funds but he insisted everything had been legal.
The Talansky contributions were towards two mayoral campaigns for Beit-ul-Moqaddas, one campaign for chairman of the Likud Party and another to cover campaign debt retroactively, according to the prime minister.
“I never took bribes, I never took a penny for myself,” he said in a televised statement to the press on Thursday night.
Talansky, in Israel to celebrate the Passover holiday, told Channel Two he had been “baffled” when police called him in for questioning.
“They
[the police] knocked on my door at six in the morning and it was the national police and they asked me to come with them and I obliged,” he said.
“It was very surprising. When they asked me details, I said whatever I know.”
He and Olmert, he added, were “very, very friendly” and had often had dinner together in New York.
Other investigations
The former mayor of Bei-ul-Moqaddas became prime minister in 2006 after leading the Kadima party of Ariel Sharon to victory in the March general election.
“I was elected by you, citizens of Israel, to be the prime minister and I don't intend to shirk this responsibility,” he said responding to the allegations on Thursday.
“I will resign from my job if the attorney general decides to issue an indictment against me.”
In November 2007, Israeli police dropped an investigation into Olmert in connection with a bank privatization.
At the time, they were still investigating two other cases in which Olmert is alleged to have behaved improperly.
The prime minister has never been charged or convicted in any of the cases.
Regarding the latest allegation, he said he hoped the “storm” would “pass with the same speed by which it was ignited”.
In their statement on Thursday, Israeli police said they had made clear to Olmert that the investigation would continue “on another date”.
(Source: BBC)-