JERUSALEM, 18 February 2005 — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s son Omri was formally indicted yesterday on charges relating to alleged campaign finance irregularities although his father was cleared, judicial sources said.
The premier and several of his top aides, including chief adviser Dov Weisglass, were cleared by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz due to lack of evidence, the sources added.
Accused of providing false testimony and forging documents, Omri Sharon, who is also a Likud MP, could be sentenced for up to seven years in prison if found guilty, commentators said.
The case stems back to Ariel Sharon’s successful 1999 campaign to become leader of his right-wing Likud party when Omri raised some $1.5 million through shell companies.
According to the indictment, one of the companies controlled by Omri, named Annex Research, took contributions from companies in Israel and abroad worth some six million shekels, which were all illegally plowed into Sharon senior’s campaign.
Evidence taken from taped phone conversations and documents in Omri’s handwriting formed part of the evidence against him, showing he disguised the company’s true purpose and effectively “laundered” the incoming funds.
But the indictment said there was no clear evidence that Ariel Sharon knew about the existence of Annex Research or what it was doing. Sharon has always insisted he had no knowledge of the campaign financing issues, which he said were completely run by his son.
Asked for a reaction to the indictment, Omri refused to comment.
“I have something to say on this issue but in light of the fact there will be a legal hearing, the right thing would be for me to first tell these things to the attorney general,” public radio quoted him as saying.
In another development, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz yesterday ordered a halt to the army’s controversial policy of demolishing the homes of Palestinians who carried out anti-Israeli attacks.
“The minister of defense decided to accept the recommendation of the chief of staff (Moshe Yaalon) to change the policy and stop exercising the legal right to demolish terrorists’ houses as a means of deterrence,” an army statement said.
The policy would only be reintroduced if there was “an extreme change in circumstances”, it said.
In Cairo, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi yesterday and discussed the Middle East peace process, Iraq and a range of other regional issues, the official MENA news agency reported.
Meanwhile, an Italian peace activist suffered a broken jaw and concussion after being attacked by a group of Jewish settlers in the southern West Bank, peace activists told AFP yesterday.
