MK Omri Sharon (Likud) was indicted in the Tel Aviv Magistrates Court today. The indictment charges Sharon with receiving illegal donations, receiving and spending money in excess of permitted limits, and not managing proper accounts in violations of the Parties Law (1992). The indictment also charges Sharon with false registration of corporate documents, corporate breach of trust, and perjury in violation of the Criminal Code [New Version] (1977).
Likud party member Gavriel Manor, who served as CEO of Annex Research, which served as a pipeline for illegal financing for Ariel Sharon in the 1999 Likud primaries, was also indicted.
The indictment states that Ariel Sharon authorized his son, Omri Sharon, to manage his primaries election campaign in September 1999. Prosecutors claim that Omri Sharon received over NIS 6 million from Israeli and foreign companies between July 1999 and February 2000 in order to finance his father’s campaign. This sum greatly exceeds limits stipulated in the Parties Law. Prosecutors claim that Omri Sharon failed to notify the Likud comptroller about receiving this money as mandated by law, and that he and Manor used the money to pay suppliers of goods and services.
Annex Research was established for this purpose. Most of the money was paid to Annex Research, which paid most of the suppliers of goods and services for the election campaign. The Parties Law stipulates that these suppliers should be paid by a bank account set up specifically for this purpose. The indictment also claims that some suppliers of goods and services were illegally paid directly from Israeli and foreign companies, at the instructions of Omri Sharon.
In order to camouflage these actions, and conceal them from the Likud comptroller, Omri Sharon instructed some suppliers of goods and services to write invoices and receipts that did not fully reflect the substance of the goods or services provided, to ostensibly show the supply of goods and services to two Israeli and one foreign company.
The indictment states that suppliers of goods and services were paid NIS 972,000 from the official primaries bank account, and that this was the only amount reported to the Likud comptroller. In fact, foreign companies paid Annex Research $1.5 million between August 1999 and the beginning of 2000. The money was transferred from companies set up by Yoram Oren, Arie Genger (a company established at the request of Ariel Sharon), and an associated established in California, run by Arnold Forrester.
The indictment states that Manor helped Omri Sharon set up a secret channel separate from the official headquarters, which received and used illegal donations. All payments through this illegal channel were carried out at Omri Sharon’s instructions, through Annex Research checks signed by Manor.
The indictment adds that Omri Sharon and Manor caused Dovrat Dagan CPA from the Strauss Lazer & Co. accountancy firm to prepare financial reports for Annex Research that did not correctly reflect the actual use of the money.
The indictment lists 67 witnesses, including former Prime Minister’s Office director general Avigdor Yitzhaki; former Prime Minister's Bureau directors Adv. Dov Weissglas and Uri Shani; advertisers Reuven Adler, Eyal Arad, and Eyal Chomsky; Likud court chairman Judge Emeritus Uri Strossman; Likud legal advisor Adv. Eitan Haberman; former Mifal Hapayis Israel National Lotterty director general Gideon Gadot; and Ariel Sharon’s media advisor Raanan Gissin.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on August 28, 2005