| http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2002/02/04/News/News.42799.html
Omri Sharon grilled over alleged fund-raising violations By Etgar Lefkovits JERUSALEM (February 4) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's son, Omri, was questioned by police for five hours yesterday over alleged fund-raising violations during the 1999 Likud primary campaign in which Ariel Sharon was elected party chairman. The younger Sharon, who is suspected of involvement in operating straw companies used to raise and spend money for the campaign, reportedly maintained his right to remain silent during questioning at National Fraud Squad headquarters in Bat Yam. His father, who was interviewed live on Channel 2 news, refused to discuss the case, saying it would be inappropriate while a police investigation is taking place. In October, Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein ordered police to open a criminal investigation against Sharon and his son following a September report on pre-election financing violations by State Comptroller Eliezer Goldberg. The report said Sharon may have violated the law by setting up fictitious companies to transfer funds from abroad to his political campaign. Goldberg fined the Likud NIS 600,000 and the Labor Party NIS 1.3 million. In response to the report, Sharon said Omri alone dealt with money matters. He also pledged to return any money illegally received. As part of the police investigation, Uri Shani, director of the prime minister's bureau, who was Likud secretary-general at the time of the primary, was questioned under caution for eight-and-a-half hours last month. In January 2000, Rubinstein ordered a separate criminal investigation into former prime minister Ehud Barak's campaign funding for the 1999 general elections, after an earlier state comptroller's report accused Labor of violating the Party Funding Law. That investigation is still under way. Justice Ministry sources have said Rubinstein's decision last fall was in no small part due to the investigation into Barak. The sources said, however, the allegations against Sharon are less severe than those against Barak. |
