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Marsipulami
30-10-03, 12:32
Israëlische politie ondervraagt Ariel Sharon over corruptieschandaal


JERUZALEM - De Israëlische premier Ariel Sharon is vandaag voor de eerste keer door de politie ondervraagd over zijn betrokkenheid bij een zaak van plichtsverzuim en illegale financiering van een kiescampagne, zo liet de Israëlische openbare omroep weten.


Sharon wordt aan de tand gevoeld over de vermeende illegale fondsenwerving van hem en zijn twee zoons Omri en Gilad in de aanloop naar de verkiezingscampagne van 1999. De premier zou hebben gelogen over de afwikkeling van die affaire, waarbij hij illegaal verkregen geld terug moest storten.

De onderzoekers ondervroegen Sharon in diens privé-woning in Jeruzalem. Sharon annuleerde daarvoor al zijn andere afspraken, zo meldt de radio. Volgens de Israëlische radio zal Sharon zondag, na de wekelijkse sabbatrust, opnieuw ondervraagd worden.
30/10/2003


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Police questioning PM on Greek island and Kern affairs

By Baruch Kra, Haaretz Correspondent



Five officers from the National Fraud Squad and
from the department of International
Investigations arrived Thursday morning at Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon's official residence in
Jerusalem to question him on suspicions of bribery
and money laundering in two separate incidents.


The detectives were to ask
Sharon about alleged bribes
he received from businessmen,
some foreign, that allowed
him to return indirectly
illegal donations he had
received for his 1999 Likud
primaries campaign. Among
other things, police suspect
that the same foreigners who

provided the original donations also gave his
sons the money to pay back the illegal campaign
funds in 1999.

The prime minister was also to be questioned
about a mysterious business relationship
between his oldest son, Gilad, and
Likud-affiliated businessman David Appel, who
paid the younger Sharon hundreds of thousands
of dollars to market a tourism resort that
Appel wanted to build on a Greek island, and
which he was trying to win Greek approval.

If investigators fail to complete their
questioning Thursday, they may resume their
questioning of the prime minister next week.

Sharon, who is expected to refer all questions
to his two sons, Omri and Gilad, as he has done
in previous interrogations on these matters,
has been preparing all week with attorney Dori
Kegelsblad - tapped as a possible candidate to
replace Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein,
whose term ends in December.

Investigators are facing a major hurdle in
proving that due to resistance from the
Austrian authorities, where the money from
where the Sharon accounts originated, in
allowing Israel Police to take depositions in
the country.

Appel's alleged bribes to Sharon came in the
form of logistical support, financing and
activists during the 1999 campaign. Police want
to know if the businessman's assistance to
Sharon and his son was a quid pro quo for Ariel
Sharon's help, when he was foreign minister, in
Appel's efforts with the Greek government and
his intervening on behalf of Appel in land
deals in the Ramle-Lod area.

Police have been stymied in that case by Gilad
Sharon's insistence that the right to avoid
self-incrimination precludes him from handing
over international financial transaction
records to investigators.

On the basis of the right to remain silent,
Gilad Sharon has kept mum in all police
interrogations on the matter. His younger
brother, MK Omri Sharon, was previously
questioned on the illegal campaign
contributions, but apparently did not provide
any useful information to detectives.

Police are hoping that the Supreme Court will
force Gilad Sharon to hand over financial
documents relating to international money
transfers as well as secret videotapes he made
of conversations between him and Appel, which
seem to indicate a lack of trust of the
businessman. Appel is also suspected of bribing
former Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert, Sharon's
rival in 1999 and the current trade and
industry minister and deputy prime minister.

Ariel Sharon has vowed his full cooperation in
the investigation, since it was first revealed
in December. State Attorney Edna Arbel and the
head of the Investigations Department, Moshe
Mizrahi, have been keeping close tabs on both
inquiries.

The questioning of the prime minister is
required for the summations of police material
in both cases, which are expected in the near
future.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/355250.html

lennart
30-10-03, 15:02
Mooie dag voor een aanslag... Zal Sharon denken.