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Omri Sharon: not smiling today (AP)
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| By Associated Press February 14, 2006 |
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| Father and son (AP) |
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The oldest son of incapacitated Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was sentenced Tuesday to nine months in prison for illegal fund-raising during his father's 1999 primary campaign, but will be permitted to remain free until August because of the Israeli leader's grave medical condition.
Despite calls for leniency following the elder Sharon's devastating stroke last month, the judge called the Omri Sharon affair a political "swamp that must be dried up."
Omri Sharon, 41, oversaw parts of the campaign and fund-raising activities for his father's victory in the 1999 primary in the Likud Party. Prosecutors claimed he received more than $1.3 million (?1.1 million) from groups in Israel and overseas for his father's campaign, amounts that far exceeded legal fund-raising limits.
The primary victory helped propel Ariel Sharon to election as prime minister in early 2001 and re-election two years later. His son served as a Likud lawmaker during that time. The elder Sharon was not indicted.
Under a deal with prosecutors, Omri Sharon pleaded guilty in November to falsifying corporate documents, perjury and violating party funding laws.
In exchange, prosecutors dropped charges of fraud and breach of trust but demanded imprisonment on the other counts. The charges carried a maximum of five years in prison.
Omri Sharon waived his parliamentary immunity to face the charges and resigned his parliamentary seat in January ahead of sentencing.
In her ruling, Judge Edna Beckenstein rejected the younger Sharon's appeals for leniency, made in pre-sentencing proceedings in recent weeks.
Beckenstein noted widespread complaints of a "political swamp" plaguing the country. "This swamp must be dried up," she said.
She said Omri Sharon's goal was to raise "unlimited funds" for his father's campaign, and that he stopped at nothing to reach that goal, including having his father sign false statements. "In the name of adoring the father, is everything legitimate?" Beckenstein wrote.
Beckenstein ordered Sharon to serve nine months in prison and pay a 300,000 shekel ($64,000 or ?53,835) fine. An additional nine months of prison time was suspended. Because of his father's condition, Omri Sharon doesn't have to report to jail until Aug. 31, according to the ruling.
Omri Sharon's lawyer, Navit Negev, called the sentence "exceptionally harsh" and said she would appeal. She called 1999 a "difficult year" for him _ his mother was dying from cancer _ and said he was a political novice at the time.
The younger Sharon declined to comment on Wednesday. He told the Tel Aviv court last month that he was inexperienced in politics when he began working to get his father elected as prime minister.
"I have made grave mistakes and I'm sorry about that," he said.
Since suffering the stroke on Jan. 4, Ariel Sharon, 77, has been comatose in a Jerusalem hospital. He has undergone seven surgeries, including the removal of part of his large intestine last weekend, and medical experts say his chances for recovery are slim.
Sharon had been widely expected to lead his new Kadima Party to victory in March 28 elections. Under Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the party retains a strong lead in opinion polls.
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