- TEL AVIV (Reuters)
- Israeli prosecutors are considering whether to indict Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon after a court Wednesday indicted a businessman on charges
of trying to bribe him in the 1990s, a Justice Ministry source said.
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- The source said prosecutors would decide within months
whether to charge Sharon along with his son, Gilad, and Deputy Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert, a close ally in ruling Likud party.
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- "The state attorney's office will take from a few
weeks to a few months to decide whether or not charges will be brought
against Sharon, Olmert and Gilad on the Greek island affair," the
source said, referring to a real estate deal.
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- "There is a 50 percent chance that they will indict
(Sharon)," Moshe Negbi, Israel Radio's legal analyst, told Reuters,
adding Sharon would have to leave office if charged.
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- Spokesmen for Sharon and Olmert had no immediate comment.
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- An Israeli court indicted property developer David Appel
earlier Wednesday on charges of trying to bribe Sharon when he was foreign
minister in the late 1990s, sparking opposition calls for his resignation.
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- Sharon, 75, a right-wing former general, has denied any
wrongdoing in a string of corruption scandals that have failed to dent
his popularity built on public support for his hard-line policies against
a three-year-old Palestinian uprising.
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- But mounting legal troubles could weaken his hand in
seeking a peace arrangement with Palestinians.
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- Analysts said that while the indictment would tarnish
Sharon's image it posed no imminent threat to his power because prosecutors
had not presented any evidence showing he knowingly accepted money for
political favors.
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- A senior political source close to Sharon told Reuters:
"He's not going to resign. There is no charge against him."
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- The charge sheet against Appel said he had paid over
$2.6 million in an attempt to bribe Sharon and Olmert, then Jerusalem mayor,
to help him push through real estate deals.
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- Prosecutors said Appel hired Gilad Sharon as a consultant
for the purchase of a Greek island resort and paid him large sums intended
to influence Sharon to help him promote the transaction. The deal never
went through.
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- The indictment said Appel funneled money directly to
Gilad Sharon or to the prime minister's Shikmim ranch agri-business.
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- Appel, who denied all charges, is a friend of the Sharon
family and has been a significant fund-raiser for Likud.
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- The indictment arose from complicated investigations
into illegal financing for Sharon's political campaigns before he won election
as prime minister three years ago.
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- A Labor spokesman said it was considering whether to
seek a no-confidence vote in parliament against Sharon.
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- But his coalition of right-wing and religious nationalist
parties enjoys a solid majority. The political source close to Sharon dismissed
the resignation calls as an attempt by opponents to gain political mileage
from the Appel indictment.
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- "It's clear this weakens Sharon. But how do they
(investigators) transfer the charges from Appel to Sharon? This is not
a death blow to Sharon," said Bar Ilan University political scientist
Shmuel Sandler.
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- A recent opinion poll found most Israelis think Sharon
should quit if proof surfaced that he engaged in misconduct.
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- "If a charge sheet (eventually emerges) against
Sharon himself it will be the end for him. The circumstantial evidence
(already) is very problematic from Sharon's point of view," said Hebrew
University political scientist Abraham Diskin.
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- "But, for now, nothing has happened (to pin Sharon
down). We need to remember these things take years and we could have another
election (due in 2007) before the process is over."
- © Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.
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- http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4177478
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