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Why is this man smiling. Omri Sharon. (AP file)
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| By israelinsider staff and partners December 12, 2005 |
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| Omri and Arik, Father and Son. Perhaps the Holy Ghost will do the time. (AP file) |
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Omri Sharon, convicted of serious corruption charges including perjury, has asked the Tel Aviv Magistrate?s Court to postpone pleas on his sentencing. He argued that if he is, as expected, sentenced to prison time, rival political parties could use the affair in their election campaign.
The Prime Minister's son was convicted after pleading guilty to violating campaign funding laws, perjury, and fraudulent registration of a company. Sentencing was scheduled to take place at the end of January 2006.
However, Omri Sharon asked for a delay so the sentencing occurs after the elections, with media reports indicating that he would use the time to manage his father's new election campaign.
Dan Scheinman, his attorney, submitted a request which stated: "The holding of the session regarding claims about sentencing will take place while the elections campaign will be at its height. With Ariel Sharon competing in these elections and heading the Kadima party, the court sessions will be at the center of press attention, and rival parties will try to widely exploit this in their elections campaigns. This can seriously disrupt the defense's handling of the case."
The State Prosecutor?s Office, however, said it opposed any delay. "The court will not be influenced by one report or another, and won't take irrelevant factors into account while sentencing," the Prosecutor said, and another prosecution source quoted by ynet characterized Sharon's request as strange: "This procedure was supposed to take place a while ago in any case, and it was delayed to January only due to Sharon's request. All this was done to allow Omri Sharon, who is actually actively managing Kadima, to deal only with party issues, and not to deal with the court case."
The source quipped that it was not the elections which could interfere with the sentence, but rather the sentence which could interfere with the elections.
But a source close to Omri Sharon claimed that "the chances that the defense could carry on with the case as it should during the elections are very low, and that's why we asked for a delay in the sentencing stage of the case."
Meanwhile, Knesset legal advisor Nurit Elstein on Monday instructed the House Committee to convene without delay to discuss the suspension of Omri Sharon in light of his recent conviction of corruption charges, Haaretz reported.
Shinui faction chairman MK Reshef Hen asked the committee to suspend MK Sharon from the Knesset. "Since MK Sharon finds it hard to draw the conclusions and did not announce he intends to resign from the Knesset, it is necessary for the House Committee to do so," Hen said.
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