AKIPRESS.COM - Ehud Olmert, Israel's former prime minister, was convicted of bribery in a notorious property development case on Monday in a verdict that effectively ended his political career and left him facing a probable jail sentence.

A judge in a Tel Aviv court found Mr Olmert – Israeli premier from 2006 to 2009 – guilty of accepting bribes totalling £190,000 to help a housing project known as the Holyland while he was mayor of Jerusalem more than a decade ago.

It is the first time a former Israeli leader has been convicted of bribery charges. A sentencing hearing is anticipated next month, with legal experts predicting that Mr Olmert, 68, can expect time in prison, telegraph.co.uk reported.

The charges related to a high-rise development in Jerusalem's south-side which has turned into an infamous blot on the historic city's landscape and spawned one of Israel's highest-profile political corruption probes. Planning and zoning law had to be changed under Mr Olmert's municipal administration to allow building work to go ahead.

The former prime minister could face further charges of obstruction of justice after it was revealed that he had tried to persuade his former long-standing personal assistant to provide untruthful testimony.