Israeli prosecutors Wednesday filed an appeal against the verdict and sentence given to former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert on corruption charges, dpa reported.
Jerusalem's District Court in July found Olmert, prime minister from 2006-9, guilty of breach of trust, but acquitted him of two other serious charges.
In September, it handed the former leader of the centrist Kadima party a one-year suspended jail sentence and fined him 75,300 shekels (19,200 dollars).
The appeal on Wednesday to the High Court of Justice deals a another blow to Olmert, whose career was cut short by the corruption allegations.
Olmert's supporters have been pressuring him to run in the January 22 elections, believing he is the only one able to pose a challenge to incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the right-wing Likud Party.
Olmert stood trial for three separate cases of alleged corruption while serving in public office, including accepting cash donations without proper reporting, double-billing expenses and cronyism.
The text of the appeal, which was broadcast on Israel's Channel 2 television, rejected as "unreasonable" the assumption that Olmert had been unaware of the double-billing of trips abroad.
The prosecution also dismissed the argument that Olmert acted innocently when he accepted cash envelopes from Jewish-American businessman Morris Talansky, especially since these were kept in a hidden safe and went unreported.
Olmert's office slammed the appeal as "another stage in the witch hunt which knows no boundaries" against the former premier.
Olmert is remains on trial in a fourth case, a real-estate scandal when he was mayor of Jerusalem 1993-2003.