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Attorney general may drop Sharon bribery indictment

Israel's attorney general is leaning towards dropping a bribery case against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a scandal that has threatened to topple him, Israeli newspapers reported yesterday.

But Justice Minister Yosef Lapid said Attorney General Menachem Mazuz had not yet reached a decision on whether to indict Sharon, who has denied any wrongdoing. Political analysts say an indictment would probably force Sharon to resign.

Several financial scandals that could jeopardize Sharon's political future have been impediments as he lobbies hardline ministers to back an amended version of his Gaza pullout plan, rejected in a May 2 vote by his own rightist Likud party. Sharon intends to put the revised plan to a Cabinet vote on Sunday.

The dailies Haaretz and Maariv cited sources close to the investigation as saying that Mazuz was tilting toward closing the so-called "Greek Island" bribery case without filing criminal charges against Sharon.

But Haaretz quoted sources as saying Mazuz was not yet close to a final decision, which is expected by mid-June, and Israel Radio quoted Justice Ministry sources as saying all options remained open.

The Jerusalem Post said senior police investigators and a committee of legal experts appointed by Mazuz to study the case believed there was too little evidence to press charges against Sharon.

"The concluding meeting of the team Menachem Mazuz put together will be held only on Thursday," Lapid told reporters in response to the news reports.

The case centers on payments of hundreds of thousands of dollars that an Israeli land developer and Likud stalwart was alleged to have made to Sharon's son Gilad, whom he hired in the late 1990s as an adviser on a project to build a resort in Greece.
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