Posted on 01/21/2004 12:34:27 AM PST by HAL9000
Businessman and back-room Likud kingmaker David Appel was due to be charged at Tel Aviv District Court on Wednesday for allegedly offering a bribe to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and, apparently, Sharon's deputy, Trade and Industry Minister Ehud Olmert.The charges will amend an existing indictment filed last year for other bribery charges against Appel. The amended charge sheet implies that the recipients of the alleged bribes - Sharon and Olmert - were active participants in the bribery deals.
The charge sheet also names other public officials, whose names have so far been kept out of media coverage of the affair.
The indictment being filed Wednesday details the problematic relationship between Appel and Sharon at various times, and with Olmert while he was mayor of Jerusalem.
The indictment ties Sharon to Appel's so-called Greek Island resort plans at the end of the 1990s, when Appel helped Sharon in the race for the Likud leadership.
This was after Sharon as foreign minister had tried to help win Greek government approval for Appel's plan - including by holding an event in honor of the deputy foreign minister of Greece at the time. At a later stage, Appel allegedly increased the bribe by paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to Sharon's son, Gilad, on contracts for fictitious work.
Appel hired Gilad, ostensibly to be a marketing advisor on the Greek island project. From the evidence in police hands, Appel continued paying Gilad Sharon even when it was evident the Greek island plan was going nowhere, so Sharon could continue helping Appel with his real estate deals.
The charge sheet alleges that Sharon, before and after becoming prime minister, helped Appel in real estate dealings at Ginaton, in the Lod area. Appel, who bought land there, allegedly asked Sharon to get Ginaton annexed to Lod, and Sharon indeed tried to do so.
The charge sheet will also include Appel's alleged dealings with Olmert, from the relevant period when he was mayor of Jerusalem in the 1990s. Ironically, Appel provided support for Olmert in the same race that Appel helped Sharon replace Benjamin Netanyahu as leader of the Likud.
The charge sheet says Appel provided Olmert with activists and logistics, anticipating Olmert's help on the Greek island initiative. The charge sheet says Olmert gave his patronage to an event in honor of the Athens mayor, to help advance Appel's venture in Greece.
The charge sheet is also expected to contain surprises involving other public officials who were involved with Appel and is based on a vast accumulation of evidence, documents, testimony to the police, audio and videotapes, and wiretaps of phone calls between Appel and suspects in the case, including Sharon and Olmert.
The indictment leaves open the possibility that the recipients of the bribes might yet be indicted, as might Gilad Sharon as a suspect in the mediation of a bribe.
Appel indictment includes PM bribes
By JPOST.COM STAFF
A revised indictment against businessman David Appel will be presented Wednesday at the Tel Aviv magistrates court that includes accusations of bribing Prime Minster Ariel Sharon and Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, this besides four already-proven accounts of bribing government officials, which the original indictment contains.
The indictment states that Appel employed Sharon’s son Gilad as a marketing consultant for a construction project he had initiated on a Greek island. Appel allegedly paid Gilad Sharon millions of dollars, suspected of having been funneled to father Ariel Sharon, who was to assist in acquiring the necessary permits.
The fact that Appel is to be accused of offering bribes does not mean that Sharon and Olmert will be accused of receiving bribes. An equivalence must be drawn: the receiver must be proven to be understanding of the fact that monies received were in return for favors to be received.
Sources close to the PM told Army Radio Monday morning that the accusations would not lead to Ariel Sharon’s resignation. There was no chance, they said, of an indictment being presented against Ariel Sharon.
Ministers in the Likud, however, have lately been expressing fears that Sharon may have to resign within the year.
MK Ofer Pines (Labor) told Army Radio this morning that “in an orderly state of affairs, the PM would have resigned a long time ago… The indictment against Appel is politically earth-shattering. Sad to say that in 2004, Israeli reality allows for Sopranos not only on Television but in government, as well.”
Appel was accused of bribing Lod Mayor Benny Regev and Givat Shmuel Mayor Zamir Ben-Ari in 2003. He was also accused of bribing former MK Nehama Ronen and Israel Lands Administration head Oded Tal. No indictments were presented against the receivers.
The Greek Island Affair commenced in 1998, when Appel tried to buy a 30,000 dunam island called Petrocolas, 40 KM from Athens airport. The deal struck a hitch due to land designation and the fact that parts of the island belong to the Greek Patriarchy.
Appel met then-Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon and Jerusalem Mayor-hopeful Ehud Olmert in August of that year. Appel allegedly promised them assistance in their respective primaries in return for assistance in overcoming the hurdles.
An Appel associate in Greece offered officials trips to Israel, including meetings with Sharon and Olmert.
Appel also took on Sharon’s son Gilad, then a 30 years old Masters holder in Agriculture with two failed real-estate deals to his name as marketing adviser. Sharon was allegedly offered an extra million and a half upon project completion.
In 1999, a Greek delegation headed by under-Secretary of State visited Israel and met with Sharon. Aslo attendant were Gilad Sharon, David Appel, Aviugdor Lieberman and Moshe Leon.
Some months later, the under-Secretary of State died in a plane crash and the deal fell through.
On the last day of his office as foreign minister, Sharon was still trying to gain Israeli citizenship for the patriarch of the church to which the Island belonged.
Meanwhile, Appel shifted his focus to Olmert, who set up a meeting with the visiting Greek mayor. The soiree was financed by Appel through one of his companies.
The police investigation began in 2001, based on information received through wire-tappings on Appel’s phone. In May of that year, Mordechai Gilat, Michal Grayevsky, and Mali Kampner-Kritz came forward in an article published in Yediot Ahronot, which exposed the entire affair.
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