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ER chief accused of taking bribe from crime boss: 'He scares me to death' By Roni Singer-Heruti An emergency room doctor on trial for allegedly taking bribes from convicted criminal and prime police target Asi Abutbul says he was spurred by intimidation. "I am scared to death of Asi Abutbul and not afraid to say so," Dr. Jacky Sarov, medical section chief of the Tel Aviv Souraski Medical Center Emergency Medicine Department, told the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court yesterday. Advertisement Abutbul himself was called to testify yesterday, but after he refused to answer questions, cracked jokes, and called the judge "honey," he was declared a hostile witness. Sarov was indicted last December for accepting money from Abutbul on three separate occasions, and in return personally escorting him and expediting all his hospital treatments. Sarov allegedly received NIS 3,000 from Abutbul for this personalized service. Yesterday, the doctor explained his actions by saying he was afraid of the reputed crime boss, and feared for himself and his family. He said he knew that if he told the hospital's management about the encounters with Abutbul, he would also have to file a police complaint, and that scared him. Sarov testified that on one occasion when Abutbul came to the hospital for treatment, he entered Sarov's office and, while asking him to call the police, slipped NIS 800 into the doctor's lab coat. "It's an unpleasant situation, certainly when confronting Asi Abutbul," Sarov told the court. Prosecutor Keren Bar-Menachem subpoenaed Abutbul and tried to question him yesterday about giving the bribes, but he refused to cooperate. "I would never in a million years give money to a doctor at a hospital. If such a thing happened I'd remember," Abutbul claimed at first. Later he said that his memory was impaired because of medication he was taking at the time. "I don't want you to frame a man for no reason the way you're doing," he added. "I don't want strangers to suffer." Abutbul repeated several times: "Don't waste your time, you won't get answers." When he continued to maintain he does not recall his encounters with Sarov, Abutbul was asked whether he could identify himself in police wiretaps of conversations, and replied that he would have trouble doing so because of his memory problems. When Judge Dorit Reich-Shapiro asked him whether he could not rely on his sense of hearing, Abutbul responded: "What jokes, honey." Finally the judge declared him a hostile witness. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Brown's ultimatum British PM to Knesset: Iran must suspend nuclear bid or face global isolation. One giant leap VIDEO: Israeli-developed device allows paraplegics to walk again.

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