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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SilentZ who wrote (185658)	3/27/2004 7:16:42 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1587385

Israeli Prosecutors Recommend Charging Sharon-TV Sat Mar 27, 2004 05:02 PM ET (Page 1 of 2) By Corinne Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's chief prosecutor has drafted an indictment against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a long-running corruption scandal that could drive him from office, Israel's Channel 2 television said on Saturday. The report said State Attorney Edna Arbel plans to submit the charge sheet within days to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, who will make the final decision on whether to put the 76-year-old leader on trial. Channel 2 said it could take Mazuz months to decide whether to accept Arbel's recommendations, adding to a cloud of political uncertainty that has enveloped Sharon. A spokesman for the Justice Ministry, which represents both the state attorney and the attorney general, declined to comment on the report. Sharon's office also had no comment and Israel Radio quoted sources in the prime minister's office as saying Sharon would only comment when Mazuz finally decided about the indictment. Arbel's draft concluded there were sufficient grounds to charge Sharon with bribery in connection with a real estate deal involving his son, Gilad, and land developer David Appel, a stalwart of the prime minister's right-wing Likud party, the report said. The latest development catches Sharon during a stormy time while he tries to win support from the United States and from his own cabinet for his plan unilaterally to evacuate Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and some in the West Bank. There was no immediate indication whether the reported draft indictment would delay Sharon's planned trip to Washington on April 14 to meet President Bush regarding his disengagement plan. Palestinians fear an Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip would mask an attempt by Sharon to annex settlement blocs in the West Bank, denying them the viable state they seek. Prosecutors allege Appel hired Gilad Sharon in 1999 and paid him large sums to persuade his father, then foreign minister, to promote real estate deals including a Greek island resort that was never built. Sharon has in the past denied any wrongdoing. Appel, who was charged in January with trying to bribe Sharon in the 1990s, also denies the allegations against him. Appel's indictment did not cite any evidence Sharon knowingly accepted money to grant political favors. Continued ... reuters.com