The Tel Aviv District Court today accepted the state's appeal and ordered Gilad Sharon, son of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, to deliver all documents in the Cyril Kern affair to the Israel Police National Fraud Unit. The affair concerns funding provded by South African businessman Cyril Kern for repayment of campaign finance for Ariel Sharon that was found to have been raised improperly.
The court also ruled that the Petah Tikva Magistrates Court will hold a further hearing on the Israel Police National Serious and International Crimes Unit's petition to order Gilad Sharon to deliver documents and tapes relating to the Greek island affair.
Responding to the order requiring him to deliver documents in the Cyril Kern affair, Gilad Sharon claimed that his right to silence also covered documents, and that he was not obligated to comply. Following a Supreme Court decision that Gilad Sharon did not have the right to refuse to deliver all the documents in his possession, the state petitioned the Tel Aviv Magistrates Court to order Sharon to deliver the documents.
Gilad Sharon gave the police some documents, claiming he had no more. However, the court ruled that he must comply with the order and deliver all the documents mentioned in it. Sharon appealed against this ruling, arguing that he was not obliged to assist the police in locating documents not in his possession, and that the documents he had delivered were sufficient.
The state's petition to the Petah Tikva Magistrates Court was filed simultaneously with its petition to the Tel Aviv Magistrates Court in the Cyril Kern affair. Gilad Sharon notified the court that he had delivered all the documents to the Police National Serious and International Crimes Unit, and his attorney Adv. Micha Fettman argued that there was no reason for a hearing on the state's petition, because his client did not claim that the documents contained any information that would incriminate him.
Gilad Sharon claimed in the Petah Tikva Magistrates Court that all the documents in his possession had been delivered to the police, and he had nothing else, including tapes, to deliver. The Petah Tikva Magistrates Court accepted his position, and ruled that there was no reason for a hearing in the format ordered by the Supreme Court, since that format was relevant only in cases where a person was not complying with a legal subpoena. The state appealed against the Petah Tikva Magistrates Court's ruling, and the appeal was accepted today.
In the ruling on the appeal, Tel Aviv District Court Judge Dvora Berliner wrote that Gilad Sharon must comply with the orders in full, meaning that he must deliver all documents and tapes included in it, and that he did not have the right to comply with orders only according to the best of his understanding, ability, or an evaluation of his ability.
Examining the documents relating to the Greek island affair received from Gilad Sharon is the main investigative take the police must complete before the State Prosecutor decides whether to indict Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the affair. According to the indictment filed against David Appel, the NIS 3 million paid to Gilad Sharon was actually a bribe paid to his father.
In the Cyril Kern affair, Gilad Sharon played a key role in the transfer of money from the South African Jewish millionaire and friend of the prime minister. The money was used to cover a bank loan Sharon took to repay disqualified donations received during the Likud primary campaign.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on February 16, 2004