Father and son – Omri and Ariel Sharon
צילום: איי פי
Is PM's son headed for jail?
Moment of truth: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's son, Omri, to be sentenced Tuesday at noon for illegal fundraising offences; Sharon junior found guilty after striking plea bargain, State Prosecutor's Office demands jail time
Moment of truth: Omri Sharon, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's son, will be at the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court Tuesday at noon as judges announce his sentence for illegal fundraising offences.
Sharon pled guilty and was convicted under a plea bargain agreement for violating political fundraising laws and providing false testimony.
State Prosecutor's Office attorneys asked the court to send Sharon junior to prison over the offences despite Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's difficult condition and ongoing coma.
Omri Sharon was convicted of offences stemming from illegal fundraising during Prime Minister Sharon's 1999 Likud primaries campaign. The affair was uncovered two years later in an investigative report by Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's leading newspaper.
At the end of his trial, Omri Sharon turned to the judges and told them "1999 was one of the most difficult years in my life. It was the year my mother discovered she had cancer…I made severe mistakes and I'm sorry about that. I took responsibility for my acts and I hope the court will take my comments into account when it sentences me."
'Omri undermined rule of law'
Prosecutors charged Omri Sharon used sophisticated tricks to breach political fundraising laws, noting "Sharon did everything to prevent the possibility of monitoring his deeds, thereby undermined the rule of law in Israel.”
Prosecutors asked Judge Edna Beckenstein to hand down “a sentence appropriate to the offenses he committed,” demanding she rule out community service and in addition impose a significant fine on the prime minister’s son.
Prosecutor Erez Nurieli said last month that the prosecution is not in a comfortable position in the legal proceedings against Omri Sharon in light of his father's health condition, but stressed the need for “a penal norm.”
Nurieli also charged Omri Sharon bought his father’s rule with money: “He received more than NIS 6 million (about USD 1.4 million) when the law allows NIS 830,000 (about USD 180,000). He used these millions to have his father elected – the goal was achieved and his father was elected.”
