TEXT - Police statement on Olmert investigation

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - This is a translation by Reuters of the main points of a joint statement in Hebrew by the Israeli police and the Justice Ministry on Friday, concerning a criminal investigation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert:

1. Almost four weeks ago the attorney general authorised a broadening of the criminal probe against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the matter of suspicions he unlawfully received money. The expansion related to additional offences which were committed in this affair connected to his ... trips abroad in the past years from information gleaned in the initial (stages of the) probe.

According to the suspicions, during his tenure as Jerusalem mayor and trade and industry minister, Olmert would seek duplicate funding for his trips abroad on public duty from several public bodies, including the state, with each of them requested to fund the same trip.

The travel agency which handled Olmert's trips produced and sent invoices to each of the funding bodies ... as if each of them was solely funding the trips.

In this mode, the funding received was significantly greater than the cost of the trip and the remainder was transferred to a special private (bank) account in Olmert's name which the travel agency managed on his behalf. The money held in this account was used to fund Olmert's and his family's private trips abroad.

2. Police investigators interviewed the prime minister today for a third time. Mr. Olmert was asked to give his account about suspicions of serious fraud and other offences, as specified above.

Although the attorney general authorised the investigation almost four weeks ago, information about this was delayed until today ... in order to prevent a release of the subject matter until the prime minister could give his version concerning the allegations.

3. The attorney general, the chief state prosecutor and the head of the police investigations team continue to follow closely the investigation, which is in its advanced stages, and will make every effort by all involved to bring it to a conclusion as soon as possible, because of the clear sensitivity of the case to all concerned.

(Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Douglas Hamilton)