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JERUSALEM: Israeli Finance Minister Avraham Hirshson resigned over the weekend, becoming the country's latest top official to be forced out over scandal, following resignation of disgraced president Moshe Katsav.
Hirshson, who is being investigated by police over claims that millions of dollars were embezzled from a labour union he once headed, stepped down after a three-month leave of absence taken in April ran out.
"Finance Minister Avraham Hirshson told me over the phone this weekend that he has decided to resign from the government even though he is convinced of his innocence," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his cabinet on Sunday.
Olmert, whose fractured government has been hammered by a series of graft probes implicating both himself and his lieutenants, is expected to present cabinet with his candidate to succeed Hirshson, a member of his Kadima party.
Among the names being floated are Housing Minister Meir Sheetrit, former justice minister Haim Ramon, who in March was sentenced to community service and a fine for sexual misconduct, and Interior Minister Ronni Bar-On.
Since April, Olmert has been standing in as acting finance minister.
A mini reshuffle is in the offing with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development Shimon Peres standing down to take the post vacated by Katsav, now facing conviction as a serial sex offender.
Neither has any replacement been made for minister without portfolio Eitan Cabel, a member of Olmert's main coalition partner, the Labour party, who resigned on May 1 following a scathing interim report into last year's war against Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah militia.
Police have been investigating Hirshson since the beginning of the year over suspicions of being involved in aggravated robbery, fraud, embezzlement, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to commit a crime.
The allegations are part of an investigation into embezzlement of millions of dollars from the right-wing National Workers Federation, once headed by Hirshson.
Olmert has been significantly weakened over a string of corruption allegations implicating both himself and members of his government, in addition to heavy criticism from a government inquiry into the Lebanon war.
In April, State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss accused Olmert of trying to advance a former business partner's interests by extending state funds to help him set up a factory in southern Israel while trade and industry minister.
Last month, Israeli police recommended charges against Shula Zaken, Olmert's former personal secretary who worked with him for 30 years, after concluding inquiries into another graft scandal.
- AFP/so
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