Knesset legal advisor tells panel to weigh MK Sharon suspension

The Knesset legal advisor Nurit Elstein on Monday instructed the House Committee to convene without delay to discuss the suspension of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's son, MK Omri Sharon, following his recent conviction of corruption charges.

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.

Last week Sharon reached a plea deal with prosecution in a trial on corruption charges in connection with fund-raising activities for one of his father's election campaigns. He agreed to admit to charges of falsifying corporate documents, perjury and to violating the party funding law.

According to the indictment, Sharon ran his father's Likud primaries campaign after being appointed for the job. In this role, the indictment says, Sharon accepted monies from Israeli and foreign corporations in excess of NIS 6 million between July 1999 thru February 2000. The law stipulates candidates can accept donations up to a limit of NIS 826 thousand.

A company called Annex Research was established, according to the indictment, for the purpose of managing the donations that exceeded the legal limit. Prosecution alleges that most of the payments to service providers for the campaign were channeled through the company, instead of using the campaign's official bank account.