Home > Is the World going to let Sharon Off that Easily?
Three RELATED Stories:
1. Jan 4, 2006 AM - Allegations that Ariel Sharon accepted a $3 Million bribe, aides dismiss it as meaningless, but...
2. Sharon’s son resign from parliament the week earlier for lying and forging documents on related charges
3. Jan 4, 2006 PM - Sharon rushed back to hospital suffering a brain hemorrhage that caused "extensive damage" - looks like he’s "in a coma" until further notice.
Can’t anyone say- HOW CONVENIENT!
Ariel is charged with accepting a $3 Million Bribe, and there’s enough evidence to force Sharon Jr out of the Parliament... so Mr. Sharon has a ’massive stroke’ that afternoon and the Bribe charge is never heard about again... no investigation, no prison, nada- Ariel is off the hook. How Convenient.
1. NEW BRIBERY SCANDAL HITS SHARON
Jerusalem, 4 Jan. (AKI) - Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon who is scheduled to undergo heart surgery on Thursday is embroiled in a new bribery scandal. The allegations of a 3-million-dollar bribe paid to Sharon’s family stem from a police raid at the home of an Austrian investor Martin Schlaff. The evidence of the alleged bribe is contained in computers confiscated during the raid, but judicial authorities have yet to give police approval to examine the material, the Israeli web portal Ynet reported.
Sharon’s aides told Ynet that the allegations, revealed in a television news report on Israel’s Channel 10 are a "journalistic flop" which reveal nothing new and "will be concluded with nothing."
The allegations which made the headlines in Israel’s major newspapers on Wednesday morning (Jan 4), comes at a very sensitive time for Sharon - less than three months before general elections.
Police sources have said an investigation will not be completed before the March 28 poll, Israel’s army radio reported on Wednesday.
Israeli police are still investigating previous allegations from 1999 of illegal financial contributions to Sharon’s election campaign.
The premier’s son, Omri Sharon, in November pleaded guilty to charges related to the financing of his father’s 1999 primaries campaign for the leadership of the Likud Party.
According to the indictment, Sharon, who had been appointed by his father to run his September 1999 primaries campaign, received some 1.26 million US dollars in campaign financing from corporations in Israel and abroad between July 1999 and February 2000. The prosecution says the money significantly exceeds the funding caps set in accordance with Israeli law.
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.p...
2. Sharon faces corruption allegations
TONY EASTLEY: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is facing fresh allegations that his family received millions of dollars in bribes.
The allegations have been submitted to a Tel Aviv court and involve the Sharon family and a powerful Austrian financier.
Mr Sharon’s son resigned from Parliament earlier this week over illegal financial dealings. Meanwhile, Mr Sharon Senior is in hospital undergoing an operation to plug a hole in his heart.
Middle East Correspondent Mark Willacy reports from Jerusalem.
MARK WILLACY: In a few hours time, Israeli doctors will insert a small umbrella-like device into the heart of Ariel Sharon.
They want to plug a two-millimetre hole in the Prime Minister’s heart. This hole was the likely cause of a stroke suffered by Mr Sharon last month.
The portly Prime Minister has now been advised by his doctors to cut his workload and to avoid fatty foods.
Maybe he should also avoid billionaire businessmen.
(Sound of Israeli television)
An Israeli TV channel has revealed that police have evidence that Ariel Sharon’s family allegedly received $US 3 million in bribes from an Austrian financier.
A police document outlining this evidence has been presented to a Tel Aviv court. It’s believed the document came from a computer seized from the family of Austrian billionaire Martin Schlaff.
The alleged bribe from Mr Schlaff is believed to be linked to a long-running corruption scandal over the Sharon family’s use of illegal political campaign donations.
But out on the streets of Jerusalem, hardly an eyebrow is raised these days when people are asked about the Sharon family and corruption claims.
VOX POP 1: If it comes out that it’s really something sticking and it’s genuine, he should resign, he should try to clean up government. We should have a clean, corruption-free government.
VOX POP 2: I’m not shocked, but I certainly believe whole-heartedly that there has to be something to these accusations and I cannot believe that he did not know also what his son was doing, since he’s a very close advisor.
MARK WILLACY: Ariel Sharon’s son Omri resigned from Israel’s Parliament this week after he was found guilty of providing false testimony and falsifying documents in relation to the financing of one of his father’s political campaigns.
He’s due to be sentenced later this month, and prosecutors are calling for him to be jailed.
But the investigation into the allegations that the Sharon family received a $3 million bribe will not be finished until after the Israeli elections in March.
So Ariel Sharon will have plenty of time to recover from his heart operation, and to fight for yet another term as Israeli leader.
[http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2006/s1542167.htm]
3. Timeline of Sharon’s health crisis