- Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's son
Gilad has erased videotapes he was ordered to submit to a corruption investigation
against his father, his lawyer said Tuesday.
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- "My client Gilad Sharon told judges today that he
has erased the videotapes they had requested," Mikha Petman told Israeli
public television.
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- The Israeli Supreme Court last month ordered Gilad to
turn in all relevant documents in a corruption investigation against his
father in the so-called "Greek island" scandal.
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- Israel's former chief prosecutor has recommended the
country's attorney general prosecute Sharon for accepting bribes from contractor
David Appel for his help in securing a major Greek property deal.
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- Appel was indicted in January on charges of trying to
bribe Sharon when he was foreign minister, through his son Gilad, in exchange
for their help in getting the property deal approved.
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- Petman said there was nothing untoward about the tapes
having been erased.
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- Nothing criminal
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- "Gilad Sharon made the tapes to record their co-operation,
and he erased them because they were no longer needed after David Appel
signed in May 2000 a binding contract on the matter. That's the truth,
there is nothing criminal in this affair," said the lawyer.
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- Petman said that Gilad, who has so far exercised his
right to silence in the proceedings, was forced by the Supreme Court order
to explain the videotapes no longer exist.
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- Sharon said in an interview earlier this month he was
confident that he would not be indicted. "My hands are clean. I believe
in my full and complete innocence, and believe there won't be an indictment,"
he told the Haaretz daily.
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- Israel's attorney general, Menahem Mazuz, has yet to
indicate whether he plans to files charges against Sharon and his son.
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