Bribery Case Charges Add to Cloud Over Sharon

A politically influential Israeli businessman was indicted Wednesday on charges that he sought to bribe Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in return for Sharon’s help in gaining approval for a proposed resort in Greece in the late 1990s.

Justice Ministry officials said they would decide in coming weeks whether to proceed against Sharon or his son Gilad, who was hired by businessman David Appel as a marketing advisor for $10,000 a month despite his lack of experience.

The indictment issued Wednesday charges that Appel hired the younger Sharon to win backing for his projects from Ariel Sharon, who was Israel’s foreign minister at the time.

The allegations add to the legal questions already surrounding Sharon and his two sons.

Sharon has been questioned in recent months by police looking into what role he and Gilad may have played in the Appel case, which has come to be known as the “Greek island affair.” A separate inquiry centers around contributions to Sharon’s 1999 campaign for the leadership post of the Likud Party. The Sharons have denied wrongdoing.

The Appel indictment further roiled Israeli politics and provided fresh ammunition to critics who have sought to capitalize on the questions swirling around Sharon for more than a year.

A few hours after the bribery charges were announced Wednesday, the opposition Labor Party called for a no-confidence vote and some lawmakers called on Sharon to resign.

“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 Ophir Pines-Paz, a ranking Labor member of the Knesset, or parliament.

Sharon said Wednesday he had no intention of resigning, according to Israeli media reports.

Some political oddsmakers were already assessing possible successors in what could be a bruising battle inside Likud. Sharon’s allies, however, insisted that he had enough support to ride out the latest turbulence if he was not indicted, and serve out his term, which ends in 2007.

“The opposition dismisses the fact that the prime minister was elected -- twice -- by a large majority. They think nothing of the Knesset’s support and apparently have little confidence in the law enforcement authorities,” Gideon Saar, a Likud lawmaker, said on Israeli radio. “They are trying to convict the prime minister in advance by way of a media lynching.”

Police investigations often hover around Israeli politics, but they seldom result in formal charges or resignations. One exception was the case of President Ezer Weizman, who stepped down from the largely ceremonial post in 2000 after a probe into cash gifts he admitted receiving from a French millionaire.

Wednesday’s indictment said Appel also sought to bribe Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, then the mayor of Jerusalem, in pursuit of the gambling-resort project, which fell through after failing to win Greek approval. Justice Ministry officials said they would also decide in coming weeks whether to indict Olmert, a close Sharon ally often mentioned as a possible successor. Olmert has denied the charges.

In order to prove a case against Olmert or the Sharons, prosecutors would have to show that they had criminal intent to take a bribe.

Appel’s lawyer, Moshe Israel, maintained his client’s innocence. He ridiculed allegations of bribes that, so far, no one has been criminally charged with receiving. “There was no bribery here. Does anyone really believe that Appel always has criminal intent but no one else [does] on the other side?”

Ariel Ben-Dor, a law professor at Haifa University, said prosecutors must prove that a bribe was received with “the expectation of some kind of reward.”

Prosecutors allege that Appel hired Gilad Sharon as a marketing advisor on the proposed Greek resort in 1998, paying him a lavish wage in order to gain favor with the elder Sharon.

According to the indictment, Appel agreed to pay the son $3 million for his services, along with a $10,000 monthly salary. Ultimately, according to the charges, Appel paid about $700,000 to the Sharon family’s ranch, which is in Gilad’s name.

The arrangement amounted to “exaggerated payments,” the indictment said, “with the intention of obtaining the action of Ariel Sharon.” The court document said Appel told Sharon that his son “was expected to enjoy large sums of money.”

Authorities charge that the payments to Gilad continued after the Greek project foundered in order to ensure his father’s support for Appel’s real estate ventures in Israel.

The charges do not spell out what help, if any, Sharon provided for Appel’s projects.

The indictment said Appel, an influential Likud member, promised to back Sharon in his 1999 campaign to lead the rightist party. Prosecutors charge that Appel also provided Olmert with workers and logistical help in his own bid to lead Likud.

The indictment amends a previous set of charges alleging that Appel bribed several other national and local officials.

The second case centers on illegal foreign donations to Sharon’s 1999 campaign. The campaign returned the money, nearly $1 million, but questions remain over the legality of a $1.5-million loan by a South African businessman to Sharon’s sons -- Omri, who is a member of the Knesset, and Gilad -- that was used for the repayment.

Sharon has said he was not involved in the campaign’s finances, which were handled by his sons. But last week, Israeli television aired a tape in which Sharon purportedly discusses financial information that suggested that he knew about the barred offshore donations.

The allegations have taken a toll on Sharon’s once-soaring popularity, though the damage has been limited. For example, a poll in the Yediot Aharonot newspaper last week showed that two-thirds of Israelis believe Sharon hasn’t told the full truth, but less than half said he should resign. The divided reaction stems in part from public weariness over dead-end corruption investigations in recent years, analysts said.

“I don’t think you’ll find the public fainting in the streets because the prime minister is somehow connected with something,” said attorney Michael Partem, vice chairman of the watchdog group Movement for Quality Government in Israel. The group has taken no position on the Appel matter.

Avinoam Brog, a pollster, predicted the ethics questions would force Sharon -- who has shown legendary resilience in his decades-long public life -- to step aside or call new elections. A key factor, he said, would be whether Sharon’s sons were charged and the prime minister felt it necessary to accept blame as a way to help them, assuming he was not indicted himself.

“When it comes down to his children, he will find it very difficult not to protect them.”