TEL AVIV – A serious indictment against the prime minister’s son: Attorney General Menachem Mazuz announced Tuesday he has decided to indict Omri Sharon on serious offences in connection with apparent illegal political fundraising.
The indictment follows failed efforts to arrange a plea bargain over the affair.
Justice Ministry officials say negotiations between the sides failed to reach an agreement as a result of Mazuz’s insistence to include serious, penal code offences in the indictment.
The charges faced by Sharon junior include breach of trust and false testimony and go back to offences apparently committed during Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Likud primaries campaign in 1999.
Despite the fact that a plea bargain deal has not been reached, it is expected that the two sides will get an agreement. However, for now, it seems that Omri Sharon will be tried for serious crimes.
The Attorney General's Office has been waiting for Tuesday night's passing of a law that removes automatic immunity from Knesset members. Now, the attorney general can indict a legislator without first having to go before a Knesset committee.
The indictment was issued after Mazuz conducted a hearing with Sharon.
Ready to face trial
In a letter sent to Knesset chairman Reuven Rivilin and Knesset committee chairman Ronny Bar-On, Omri Sharon said that he is giving up his immunity.
The letter also laid out the chain of events in question and contained an admission by Sharon that he had violated the Parties Law.
Sharon criticized the restrictiveness of the law, saying that it was never put into practice and that "I am the one and only to be tried for violating it."
Yet he added, "Yes, while working on my fathers' election campaign in 1999, I did not hold by the restrictions of the Parties Law, and I am ready to face justice. I will argue my case before the court that sits in judgment of me."
The deal
The investigations into the scandal began in 2001 after the police began to suspect that the prime minister and his son illegally raised millions of shekels in order finance a run in the Likud party primaries and, then afterwards, a run for prime minister.
Attorney General Mazuz has recently been conducting meetings with Sharon's lawyer, Dan Scheinman, in order to reach a plea bargain agreement.
The deal fell through when Sharon wanted a six-month sentence, served out as community service, and Mazuz insisted on nine months with some prison time.
Sharon has now decided to take his chances with the courts.
First published: 19:43, 07.26.5