The Supreme Court in Israel on Wednesday ordered the younger son of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to hand over personal documents that police say will prove he accepted an illegal $1,5-million loan from a South African businessman.
In another case involving the younger Sharon, Israeli TV stations broadcast a video recording of a conversation between him and an adviser to the prime minister, who warned him that his dealings could end up in legal complications, and Gilad Sharon asked, ”What, in prison?”
The prime minister is slated to be questioned in the coming days in the case in which he allegedly raised illegal contributions in his 1999 race for the leadership of the Likud Party, the Haaretz newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The police had already questioned Sharon in October.
Police have recently obtained depositions from their South African counterparts about businessman Cyril Kern’s loan that strengthen their case against Sharon, Haaretz said. As overseers of Sharon’s campaign, his sons Gilad and Omri allegedly accepted Kern’s money to help pay back an illegal contribution to the campaign.
Kern chose not to comment when the Mail & Guardian Online contacted him on Thursday.
The upcoming interrogation of the prime minister will focus on new police evidence apparently showing that he knew campaign finance laws were being violated, Haaretz said. Police say they believe Sharon was aware a front company was set up to accept overseas contributions, which are illegal in Israel.
Sharon has said he will cooperate with police, but denied wrongdoing.
In Wednesday’s ruling, a special five-judge panel ruled that Gilad Sharon must turn over documents that could shed light on the case, said a representative for the state prosecutor, Edna Barzilai. The court rejected Gilad Sharon’s insistence he did not have to turn over the documents as part of his right to silence, Barzilai said.
The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court will view the documents and decide if any can be used in court.
In another case involving the Sharon family, police are investigating suspicions Gilad Sharon accepted a bribe from David Appel, an Israeli businessman. In exchange, Gilad Sharon was supposed to influence his father, who was foreign minister at the time, to get approval for a Greek real estate deal for the businessman.
The videotape, which was apparently given to the TV stations by police, shows Gilad Sharon talking to David Spector, an adviser to his father, in February 2001, when Sharon was first elected prime minister.
Spector warns him against dealing with Appel.
”He’s problematical, and there could be [legal] complications from that direction,” Spector warns, adding: ”This is going to turn out badly.”
The hidden camera trained on the younger Sharon shows him holding up his arms with wrists together, as if handcuffed, and asking: ”What? In prison?” — Sapa-AP