Ehud Olmert's lawyers Friday began a second day of cross-examining a key state witness, whose allegations that Olmert accepted cash-stuffed envelopes from him are threatening the Israeli premier's political future.

The lawyers managed to expose some inaccurate details in Morris Talansky's account on the first day of the crucial cross-examination Thursday, but Israeli commentators agreed there had been no great surprises during that first-seven hour session.

Talansky conceded that he may have misremembered some details, but countered he could not be expected to remember every single one and insisted he was telling the truth.

He said he had not 'invented' stories and that on the whole his account was accurate. The US businessman and fundraiser has said he gave Olmert at least 150,000 US dollars over a period of 15 years, before he was elected premier in March 2006.

Olmert's well-experienced lawyers are expected to continue their efforts to discredit the witness.

The premier risks charges ranging from bribe-taking, to fraud, breach of trust, money laundering and breaking Israel's party funding law. He has promised to resign if an indictment is filed against him.

The cross-examination in the Jerusalem District Court is a pre- trial hearing, held because Talansky is a foreign resident and prosecutors have said they have no guarantee they will be able to summon him if and when a trial starts.

It comes seven weeks after Talansky gave his early deposition, which had seriously damaged Olmert's public standing and forced him to agree to early primaries in his Kadima party already in mid- September.