Calls mount for Olmert's resignation

His campaign finances, he said, were the responsibility of a lawyer named Uri Messer, a longtime confidant linked to other corruption suspicions involving the prime minister.

"I am looking all of you in the eye, and I say I never took bribes, I never took a penny for myself," he said.

Olmert said Talansky had contributed to his two Jerusalem mayoral campaigns, and a campaign for chairman of the Likud Party before he left to join Kadima. Talansky also gave him money to cover campaign debt, he said.

Talansky's attorney, Jack Chen, declined a request Friday to interview his client and would not comment on the case.

Olmert is a suspect in several corruption affairs involving real estate deals and questionable political appointments. He has been questioned several times by police but has never been convicted. All the cases relate to events that took place before he became prime minister.

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