Jerusalem - Israeli police have questioned US billionaire Sheldon Edelson as part of a widening inquiry into the latest graft scandal to embroil Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, an official said on Wednesday.
The real estate and casino tycoon was brought in for questioning on Tuesday after he entered the country to attend an international conference hosted by President Shimon Peres, the police official said.
A second US businessman, Daniel Abraham, who is also linked to a different probe against Olmert, was also questioned by police on Tuesday, he said.
Police are seeking to establish whether Olmert had given any favours in exchange for alleged illegal funds he received from US businessman and fundraiser Morris Talansky in the 13 years before he became premier in 2006.
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Olmert has denied any wrongdoing and insists he will only step down if indicted.
According to the liberal Haaretz newspaper, police suspect Olmert had asked Edelson and Abraham to purchase mini-bar refrigerators for their hotels made by a company in which Talansky had a stake at the time.
Police investigators this week raided the Jerusalem town hall and the offices of the trade and industry ministry which Olmert headed between 1993 and 2003 and confiscated documents there.
Olmert, who has been dogged by scandals since he took office in 2006, last week insisted he had never taken a bribe and said he would quit if indicted.
But he acknowledged that he had received what he said were legitimate financial contributions for various election campaigns from Talansky.
Talansky said on Sunday that he gave financial contributions to Olmert but insisted he believed they were intended for legitimate purposes.
"I never thought in any way that the money I gave was illegal or wrong," the 75-year-old Jewish financier told Israel's private Channel 10 television in his first public comments on the scandal.
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