Likud member of the Knesset and Sharon’s son, Omri Sharon, struck a plea bargain with the Israeli state prosecution whereby he confesses to the charges of falsifying corporate documents, perjury and violating the party funding law, Israeli online daily Haaretz reported.
The first two charges carry consecutive imprisonment, while the third carries a fine, Haaretz stated.
So far, no agreement has been reached on the sentences or whether these charges will be considered “crime of moral corruption”.
The trial will open on Tuesday in the Israeli Magistrate’s Court, in Tel Aviv. According to the indictment against Omri, he was named by his father, Ariel Sharon, to run his Likud primaries’ campaign in September 1999.
According to Israeli sources, before serving the indictment, the Israeli prosecution negotiated with Omri’s lawyers, but the talks were unsuccessful.
One of the main points of conflict in the negotiations was disagreement on the sentence against Omri. Omri Sharon took donations in Israel and abroad during the period between July 1999, and February 2000 with a total amount of NIS 6 Million collected. This amount is considered significantly higher than the top limit allowed by the Israeli law.
Also, the prosecution said that a company called Annex Research was founded to collect these donations. Most of the money was channeled to this company and was used to pay the suppliers and service providers during the campaign without using the official bank account of Sharon.
Omri, in an attempt to cover up his actions, instructed the suppliers and service providers to issue receipts which did not reveal the nature of the service provided.
