{"article":{"id":92061,"heading":"Sharon grilled by police in corruption probe","author":"systemfailure","created":"2003-10-31 21:26:09","modified":"2003-11-18 09:30:39","last_modified":"Tue, 18 Nov 2003 16:30:39","article":"

A five-strong group of investigators who entered his official Jerusalem residence at 9:00 am (0700 GMT) wrapped up their questioning of the premier at around 4:00 pm, police sources and reports said.

Police said that they would issue a lengthier statement later but public radio reported that detectives would return to question the prime minister next week.

Sharon faced questioning over allegations that he used a 1.5-million-dollar loan from South African businessman Cyril Kern to return contributions for his 1999 campaign for the leadership of the right-wing Likud party that had been deemed illegal.

The investigators, led by the national fraud squad's chief Lieutenant Commander Miri Golsan, want to know under what conditions Sharon accepted the loan from Kern, who has been described as a \"personal friend\" of the prime minister.

Sharon's son Omri, a Likud MP who is believed to have brokered the loan, was questioned for an hour and a half by police earlier this month.

In January, the prime minister rejected corruption allegations against his family as \"scornful libel\" but he has so far refrained from answering numerous questions about the affair.

Sharon senior was also expected to have to answer questions about the activities of his second son, Gilad.

Gilad allegedly helped contractor David Appel to promote a multi-million dollar Greek resort in exchange for cash and a commitment by Appel to pour money into the Sharon family's ranch in the Negev desert.

Also questioned by police, Gilad refused to supply officers with financial documents relating to the affair.

Ariel Sharon publicly scolded fellow Likud MP Naomi Blumenthal for failing to answer police questioning over a cash-for-votes scandal earlier this year and some of his political opponents have called on him to fully cooperate.

The Haaretz daily said that Sharon has been preparing for his round of questioning all week with his lawyer Dori Kegelsblad, who has been tapped as a possible replacement for the current Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein, whose term of office ends at the end of the year.

The investigators had been mandated by Rubinstein to question the premier.

The corruption affair has helped lead to a slump in Sharon's poll ratings at a time when the economy is in crisis and the peace process with the Palestinians has ground to a complete halt.

Sharon's long-time rival Benjamin Netanyahu , his predecessor as Likud leader, also faced questioning at the hands of police investigators after his time as Israeli prime minister over allegations that he failed to declare gifts received while in office.



. <\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"http:\/\/story.news.yahoo.com\/news?tmpl=story2&u=\/afp\/20031030\/wl_mideast_afp\/israel_politics_031030150811&e=4","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was grilled for seven hours by fraud squad detectives over a simmering corruption scandal involving two of his sons, police sources said. ","numcomment":12,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2003\/10\/92061.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":92063,"heading":"ahh","article":"the smell of democracy in the Middle East.","author":"sf","parent_id":92061,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-10-31 21:28:18","modified":"2003-10-31 21:28:18","fileurl":""},{"id":92113,"heading":"corruption","article":" Questioning Sharon about corruption is a bit like investigating Mussolini for giving out free paperclips to his cronies. They should be questioning him about murder.","author":"Meyer London","parent_id":92061,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-10-31 22:32:14","modified":"2003-10-31 22:32:14","fileurl":""},{"id":92125,"heading":"Might as well investigate...","article":"...your hero Arafat, too, Oscar Meyer.\r\n\r\nHe's murdered a few babies in his time.","author":"nonanarchist","parent_id":92061,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-10-31 22:57:38","modified":"2003-10-31 22:57:38","fileurl":""},{"id":92167,"heading":"To the Sharon apologist above","article":"Your Jewish role model was one of the architects of the massacres of Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.\r\nOver 300 murdered in just one day under the watchful eye of the IDF.","author":"nonhypocrite","parent_id":92061,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-11-01 03:10:12","modified":"2003-11-01 03:10:12","fileurl":""},{"id":92169,"heading":"nonhypocrite","article":"How is calling for an investigation into Arafat's activities either hypocrisy or apology for Sharon?\r\n\r\nHint: it isn't.\r\n\r\nUnless, of course, you find any statement not rabidly critical of Israel an automatic indicator of Zionism and blind support of Sharon.\r\n\r\nNow: you can go ahead and call me names, and pretend you won the argument.","author":"nonanarchist","parent_id":92061,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-11-01 03:17:01","modified":"2003-11-01 03:17:01","fileurl":""},{"id":92188,"heading":"you lost the argument when","article":"you tried deflecting Sharon's guilt by citing Arafat's crimes. And yes, your blind support of Sharon is surefire indicator of Zionism.\r\nSharon is a criminal who needs to sit in the Hague's tribunal. ","author":"nonhypocrite","parent_id":92061,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-11-01 06:44:28","modified":"2003-11-01 06:44:28","fileurl":""},{"id":92400,"heading":"I perfectly predicted your response, didn't I?","article":"You're such a tool.\r\n\r\nAnd what evidence to you have of my "blind support for Sharon"?\r\n\r\nHint: the voices in your head are not admissable as evidence.","author":"nonanarchist","parent_id":92061,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-11-02 02:36:01","modified":"2003-11-02 02:36:01","fileurl":""},{"id":92402,"heading":"Furthermore...","article":"...what does pointing out Arafat's guilt have to do with Sharon's?\r\n\r\nNothing.\r\n\r\nYour blind support for Arafat is proof you like to see dead Jews.","author":"nonanarchist","parent_id":92061,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-11-02 02:45:39","modified":"2003-11-02 02:45:39","fileurl":""},{"id":92417,"heading":"You are despicable","article":"Your defense of Zionism consists of finding a bigger crime in the hope it will make Sharon look less guilty. It doesn't.\r\n\r\nI am not afraid to hate the Israeli , and yes, the Jewish individuals committing or supporting these atrocities. They aren't any better than Palestinians blowing up buses. Revenge does not make any side right. \r\n\r\nNobody should allow himself to be intimidated by the Zionist thought police that stiffles the mildest critiscism against their murderous policies. This "if you criticize Israel, you must forcibly be a nazi" is getting old, you know. Time to move on. \r\n\r\nIf my reply looked so "predictable", it was because you described your own beliefs acurately in the first place. You have been inconditionally defending an expansionist Israel in many other postings. Illegal expropriation, murder, thugery, racism inflicted by Israel on the Palestinian people are all justified according to you. \r\n\r\nGo ahead, fluff your conservative feathers. I am done with you.\r\n","author":"nonhypocrite","parent_id":92061,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-11-02 04:09:28","modified":"2003-11-02 04:09:28","fileurl":""},{"id":93406,"heading":"n-hypocrite","article":"Since your a little bit slow Ill explain it to you.\r\nI dont give a shit if sharon is guilty. That says nothing about zionism as a whole, If it did then you would have to accept that arafat being guilty puts the palistinian movement in an even worse light. (because arafat is guilty of much worse things than sharon)","author":"Scottie","parent_id":92061,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-11-08 21:05:37","modified":"2003-11-08 21:05:37","fileurl":""},{"id":93411,"heading":"Mr. Moneybags","article":"Yasser Arafat may be a terrorist and a thug, but at least he's a good provider--to his wife, that is, not to the impoverished people he ostensibly leads. Ha'aretz says CBS's "60 Minutes" will report this weekend that "Arafat transfers $100,000 a month from funds directed to the Palestinian Authority to his wife Suha," who lives the good life in Paris. "According to the report, Arafat has accumulated in his private accounts more than $800 million from aid originally appropriated to the Palestinian authority."\r\n\r\nArafat won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.\r\n\r\n","author":"Ffutal","parent_id":92061,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-11-08 21:59:50","modified":"2003-11-08 21:59:50","fileurl":""},{"id":94734,"heading":"you would probally be mad if someone","article":"published somthing from al-jazeera.\r\nHeres some info about your "unbiased" source.\r\n\r\nn 1935, the paper was bought by Zalman Schocken, a businessman and prominent Zionist from Germany who had recently settled in Palestine. His son, Gershom, took over the editorship in 1939 and headed the paper until his death more than fifty years later, in 1990. Since then, Gershom Schocken's son, Amos, has served as publisher of Haaretz and Hanoch Marmari as its editor-in-chief. Haaretz is still entirely owned by the Schocken family.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\na zionist paper.\r\nclearly no bias here.\r\n lol","author":"systemfailure","parent_id":92061,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2003-11-18 09:30:39","modified":"2003-11-18 09:30:39","fileurl":""}]}