The Final Solution
01-22-2004, 07:50 PM
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasite/images/iht_daily/D220104/180engSharon220104sinai.jpg
Sharon says plans to stay on as PM at least until 2007
By Baruch Kra, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Thursday said he would remain prime minister at least until the next scheduled elections in 2007, one day after businessman David Appel was indicted for offering bribes to the prime minister and his deputy, Ehud Olmert...Citing associates of Sharon, Channel Two TV reported that he has no intention of resigning from his post, even if he is indicted for receiving bribes from Appel.
Acting Attorney General Edna Arbel believes there is enough hard evidence to charge Sharon with receiving bribes from Appel, the Likud back-room wheeler dealer who was indicted Wednesday.
The final decision on Sharon will be made when all the relevant material is completed, including another interrogation of the prime minister.
Further inquiry is needed because of new material the police and prosecution have in the case, which involves help for Sharon's election campaigns and payments to Sharon, through his son Gilad, for various services Sharon allegedly provided for Appel.
At one point when Appel was seeking Sharon's help to resolve government obstacles to a business deal, Appel told Ariel Sharon his son Gilad would "make a lot of money."
Police Criminal Investigations Department commander Moshe Mizrahi also believes the evidence against the prime minister is very strong, and tends to agree with Arbel. The police hope to interrogate Sharon within days...
The indictment prosecutors Rahel Shiber and Ella Rubinek filed in Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court on Wednesday is 33 pages long, including 7 pages listing 209 witnesses. Gilad Sharon is listed as witness 207.
The indictment explicitly names the prime minister and Olmert as people bribed by Appel. By specifically referring to Appel's promise of paying lots of money to Gilad Sharon, ostensibly for his role in the so-called Greek island business deal, it contradicts Sharon's public declarations that he knew nothing of any Greek island deal.
The indictment says Appel paid $700,000 out of $3 million promised to the Sycamore Ranch estate owned by the Sharons and managed by Gilad. It says Appel knew Gilad had neither the qualifications nor the experience for the job he gave him. The money kept flowing to Gilad Sharon long after it became evident Appel would not be building any island project.
Greece's Archaeology Law rendered such a venture impossible, as did the presence of church property on the small Aegean island southeast of Athens where Appel wanted to put a gambling resort.
The charge sheet says there were three parallel tracks to the Appel-Sharon relationship - the period when Sharon was running for the Likud leadership in 1999; the Greek island affair, when then-foreign minister Ariel Sharon used his influence to help Appel reach key Greek government officials whom he hoped would get him approval for his grandiose island gambling resort; and the Sharon family's involvement in various real estate interests of Appel in the Lod area, where he sought a change in zoning laws that would transform millions of dollars of farmland he had bought into hundreds of millions of dollars worth of residential and commercial property.
The charge sheet specifies that Appel threatened the former ILA (Israel Lands Adminnistration) director general, Avi Drexler, that he would use his influence with Gilad Sharon to get Drexler fired for blocking the zoning changes. Indeed, Drexler was eventually forced out of the ILA.
On Appel's relationship with Sharon, the indictment also touches on Appel's relationship with then-Jerusalem mayor Olmert. At the same time as Appel was promising Sharon logistical help and people for his Likud leadership battle, he was making similar promises to Olmert, Sharon's rival in the race.
...
The justice minister pointed out that in numerous cases people had been indicted for giving bribes, but those who allegedly received the bribes were never charged.
A number of prominent Labor figures called for Sharon to resign over the charges. "This is very sad, very grave, but this is the reality of Israel in 2004. There's Sopranos on television, and there's Sopranos in Israel," said Labor MK Ophir Pines-Paz.
Labor MK and former cabinet minister Avraham Shohat also called for Sharon's resignation. "He should already have resigned in the light of earlier events. What happened today is just an extra. He is polluting the atmosphere."
...
"He could complicate the country in military or political adventures," Sarid said. "He could get us caught up in a little war."
The silence of Likud ministers was resounding, with not a single one prepared to publicly back Sharon in the wake of Appel's indictment.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/385125.html
Sharon says plans to stay on as PM at least until 2007
By Baruch Kra, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Thursday said he would remain prime minister at least until the next scheduled elections in 2007, one day after businessman David Appel was indicted for offering bribes to the prime minister and his deputy, Ehud Olmert...Citing associates of Sharon, Channel Two TV reported that he has no intention of resigning from his post, even if he is indicted for receiving bribes from Appel.
Acting Attorney General Edna Arbel believes there is enough hard evidence to charge Sharon with receiving bribes from Appel, the Likud back-room wheeler dealer who was indicted Wednesday.
The final decision on Sharon will be made when all the relevant material is completed, including another interrogation of the prime minister.
Further inquiry is needed because of new material the police and prosecution have in the case, which involves help for Sharon's election campaigns and payments to Sharon, through his son Gilad, for various services Sharon allegedly provided for Appel.
At one point when Appel was seeking Sharon's help to resolve government obstacles to a business deal, Appel told Ariel Sharon his son Gilad would "make a lot of money."
Police Criminal Investigations Department commander Moshe Mizrahi also believes the evidence against the prime minister is very strong, and tends to agree with Arbel. The police hope to interrogate Sharon within days...
The indictment prosecutors Rahel Shiber and Ella Rubinek filed in Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court on Wednesday is 33 pages long, including 7 pages listing 209 witnesses. Gilad Sharon is listed as witness 207.
The indictment explicitly names the prime minister and Olmert as people bribed by Appel. By specifically referring to Appel's promise of paying lots of money to Gilad Sharon, ostensibly for his role in the so-called Greek island business deal, it contradicts Sharon's public declarations that he knew nothing of any Greek island deal.
The indictment says Appel paid $700,000 out of $3 million promised to the Sycamore Ranch estate owned by the Sharons and managed by Gilad. It says Appel knew Gilad had neither the qualifications nor the experience for the job he gave him. The money kept flowing to Gilad Sharon long after it became evident Appel would not be building any island project.
Greece's Archaeology Law rendered such a venture impossible, as did the presence of church property on the small Aegean island southeast of Athens where Appel wanted to put a gambling resort.
The charge sheet says there were three parallel tracks to the Appel-Sharon relationship - the period when Sharon was running for the Likud leadership in 1999; the Greek island affair, when then-foreign minister Ariel Sharon used his influence to help Appel reach key Greek government officials whom he hoped would get him approval for his grandiose island gambling resort; and the Sharon family's involvement in various real estate interests of Appel in the Lod area, where he sought a change in zoning laws that would transform millions of dollars of farmland he had bought into hundreds of millions of dollars worth of residential and commercial property.
The charge sheet specifies that Appel threatened the former ILA (Israel Lands Adminnistration) director general, Avi Drexler, that he would use his influence with Gilad Sharon to get Drexler fired for blocking the zoning changes. Indeed, Drexler was eventually forced out of the ILA.
On Appel's relationship with Sharon, the indictment also touches on Appel's relationship with then-Jerusalem mayor Olmert. At the same time as Appel was promising Sharon logistical help and people for his Likud leadership battle, he was making similar promises to Olmert, Sharon's rival in the race.
...
The justice minister pointed out that in numerous cases people had been indicted for giving bribes, but those who allegedly received the bribes were never charged.
A number of prominent Labor figures called for Sharon to resign over the charges. "This is very sad, very grave, but this is the reality of Israel in 2004. There's Sopranos on television, and there's Sopranos in Israel," said Labor MK Ophir Pines-Paz.
Labor MK and former cabinet minister Avraham Shohat also called for Sharon's resignation. "He should already have resigned in the light of earlier events. What happened today is just an extra. He is polluting the atmosphere."
...
"He could complicate the country in military or political adventures," Sarid said. "He could get us caught up in a little war."
The silence of Likud ministers was resounding, with not a single one prepared to publicly back Sharon in the wake of Appel's indictment.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/385125.html