JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will be questioned again by police in the "coming days" in connection with a corruption investigation, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on Saturday.

Earlier, private Channel Two television said the premier would be questioned "by Sunday," while the Ynet Internet site of the daily Yediot Aharonot said it would be "within the next 48 hours."

Ynet said police wish to question Olmert before his lawyers are made aware of testimony by Morris Talansky, a US millionaire businessman suspected of illegally funding Olmert.

Talansky is to give a deposition before a judge in a closed-door session on May 25 and then be allowed to return to the United States, public radio had reported on Wednesday.

Olmert's lawyers have appealed the decision to summon Talansky as a witness.

Anti-fraud police are seeking to establish whether Olmert dispensed any favours in exchange for alleged illegal funds he received from Talansky in the 13 years before becoming premier in 2006.

Olmert was Jerusalem mayor from 1993 to 2003, and then trade and industry minister until 2006.

Olmert, who has been dogged by scandals since he became prime minister, last week insisted he had never taken a bribe and said he would quit if charges were pressed.

Talansky said on Sunday that he had contributed to Olmert but insisted that he believed the money was intended for legitimate purposes.

"I never thought in any way that the money I gave was illegal or wrong," the 75-year-old Jewish financier told private Channel 10 television in his first public comments on the scandal.

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