- (AFP) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will not
face indictment on corruption charges over a property deal, Attorney General
Menachem Mazuz announced.
-
- Speaking live on television, Mazuz said he had closed
the dossier into the so-called Greek Island Affair and that Sharon would
not face any charges.
-
- "I have come to the conclusion that the dossier
should be closed," said Mazuz. "The accumulated evidence was
insufficient to envisage a conviction.
-
- "After a scrupulous point-by-point examination of
the case, not the slighest case of corruption has been identified in the
Greek Island affair."
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- His decision also means that Sharon's son Gilad, who
was also implicated in the affair, escapes any prospect of prosecution.
-
- At the end of March, chief Israeli prosecutor Edna Arbel
had recommended that Mazuz indict Sharon for allegedly receiving bribes
from contractor David Appel.
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- Appel has already been indicted on charges of trying
in 1998 to bribe then foreign minister Sharon through Sharon's son, Gilad,
in exchange for their help in securing a major Greek property deal.
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- Sharon, who was grilled twice by the police over the
affair, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
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- Israel's private Channel 10 network reported that Mazuz
had personally informed the premier of his decision an hour before the
announcement was made.
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- Sharon was reported to have responded by saying: "Thank
you very much."
-
- Had Sharon been indicted, it would almost certainly heralded
the end of his time as prime minister and a political career stretching
back to the mid-1970s.
-
- The decision clears the way for the main opposition Labour
party to enter a new broad-based coalition government to help steer Sharon's
controversial Gaza pullout plan through parliament.
-
- Sharon lost his majority in the 120-seat parliament last
week after the departure of four ministers from far right-wing parties
who had been fiercely opposed to his disengagement plan.
-
- He was only able to survive a no-confidence vote in his
disengagement plan on Monday night with the help of Labour, which decided
to abstain.
-
- Former premier and Labour leader Shimon Peres, a supporter
of the pullout from Gaza, is widely expected to re-enter the government
as foreign minister.
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