Detectives question Sharon over bribe claims

Ariel Sharon was questioned by fraud detectives for nearly three hours yesterday over bribery allegations that could force him from office.

Israel Radio reported that the prime minister had again told police he knew nothing about hundreds of thousands of dollars allegedly paid to one of his sons by a businessman, in return for political favours.

Mr Sharon's answers are expected to prove crucial with regard to the attorney general's decision about whether or not to indict him. Charges would almost certainly lead to the Israeli prime minister's resignation, particularly now that he has incurred the fury of many in his Likud party with the proposal this week that he intends to close Jewish settlements in the Gaza strip.

Some far-right members of his coalition government have accused him of announcing the Gaza pullout in an attempt to distract public attention from the corruption inquiry.

The police described Mr Sharon as cooperative during his interrogation, in contrast to a similar session in October when he was "evasive".

The focus of the questioning by Israel's international investigations unit was Mr Sharon's relationship with David Appel, an Israeli businessman and powerbroker in the Likud party. Last month Mr Appel was indicted for allegedly paying $700,000 (£380,560) to Mr Sharon's son, Gilad, and into the Sharon family ranch, in return for pressure on the Greek government to allow a casino and resort to be built on an Aegean island. At the time of alleged graft in the late 1990s, Mr Sharon was foreign minister.

"Appel gave Ariel Sharon a bribe in recognition of activities connected to the fulfilment of his public positions," the indictment said.

For any charges to be laid against Mr Sharon, a case has to be made that he accepted money knowing it was meant to buy his influence.

Yesterday, detectives sought to discover whether the prime minister was aware of a contract for Mr Appel to pay as much as $3m to Gilad Sharon to market the non-existent casino. The indictment against Mr Appel describes the payment as "inflated", designed to influence Ariel Sharon in his public life.

Detectives were also expected to ask Mr Sharon about a conversation he had with Mr Appel, secretly recorded by the police, in which the businessman said that the prime minister's son was going to earn a lot of money.

Prosecutors in the attorney general's office are suspicious of the timing of the conversation which came shortly before Mr Sharon allegedly used his influence to help Mr Appel get farmland re-zoned for building residential units.

Israel's new attorney general, Menachem Mazuz, is expected to decide in the coming months whether or not to indict Mr Sharon. Mr Mazuz's predecessor, Edna Arbel, said she believed there was enough evidence to charge Mr Sharon with accepting bribes. Several senior prosecutors agreed.

Legal opinion differs on whether Mr Sharon would be obliged to resign from office if he is indicted, but the political pressure to go would probably be overwhelming.

Mr Sharon is also the subject of a second police investigation, this time by the national fraud squad, over illegal campaign contributions through the creation of a series of fake companies. Fraud detectives are looking into whether or not Mr Sharon used a second batch of illegal money, totalling nearly $1m, to repay the earlier contributions. But the prime minister was not questioned about that yesterday.