Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is denying any wrongdoing, just hours before heading to prison to start serving his 19-month sentence.

Olmert is the first Israeli premier to go to prison. He will be serving time for a bribery conviction and for obstructing justice.

In a video released on Monday, Olmert says he “rejects outright” the bribery charges.

The 70-year-old Olmert was convicted in March 2014 in a wide-ranging case that accused him of accepting bribes to promote a controversial real-estate project in Jerusalem. The charges pertained to a period when he was mayor of Jerusalem and trade minister, years before he became prime minister in 2006.

Olmert’s seven-year legal saga undermined the last serious round of Mideast peace talks and propelled hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to power.
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