The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was under fire from the media on Sunday over fresh corruption allegations, with commentators saying the embattled premier's political career was all but over.

"Ehud Olmert is finished. Politicians, the leaders he will meet today in Paris, the prosecutor and the police, all of them know this. The only one who wants to ignore it is Olmert," wrote Nahum Barnea, a columnist for the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper.

Police suspect that on at least 12 occasions when Olmert was Jerusalem mayor or trade and industry minister he submitted multiple invoices to different organisations for the same trip, pocketing about 110,000 dollars (60,000 euros) in reimbursements, Yediot Aharonot reported.

Olmert, already the subject of four pending investigations, is accused of using the ill-gotten gains from speaking tours to finance private trips for himself and his family.

"Ehud Olmert needs to give up. Enough. This has already gone out of all bounds," Ben Caspit wrote on the front page of the Maariv newspaper. "This country needs a real government, not a shadow one."

The speaking tours were allegedly funded by several private organisations, including foundations for physically and mentally disabled children, the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, and the American Friends of the IDF (Israeli army).

"Olmert made an illegal profit by speaking about Holocaust survivors, wounded kids, and soldiers." wrote Amir Oren, a columnist for the left-leaning Haaretz newspaper. "To his friends, Olmert is a frequent flyer, but to the police he's just a frequent liar," he added. The new claims surfaced on Friday after police questioned Olmert, 62, for the third time since May.

He is also accused of illegally receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash-stuffed envelopes from US millionaire financier Morris Talansky before he became prime minister in 2006.