Sharon may face bribery charges
Lawyers may decide within weeks or months to indict Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on corruption charges.
A Tel Aviv Magistrates Court yesterday indicted real-estate developer David Appel of trying to bribe Mr Sharon with hundreds of thousands of dollars before he took office.
Mr Appel tried to persuade Mr Sharon to back a series of land deals when he was foreign minister in the late 1990s.
Thus far Mr Sharon has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing.
Mr Sharon’s son Gilad and vice prime minister Ehud Olmert are also implicated in the allegations.
Gilad is alleged to have employed as a consultant to facilitate the purchase of a Greek island resort. He was reportedly paid to help win his father’s backing for the deal.
The Court also accused Mr Appel yesterday of paying monies to help Mr Sharon and close ally Ehud Olmert, the then Mayor of Jerusalem, in their leadership bids in the Likud party in 1999, in return for favours.
