Wednesday, July 27 2005 10:30 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Jerusalem: Israeli Attorney General, Menachem Mazuz, yesterday (July 26, 2005) decided to press charges against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's son Omri in connection with a campaign finance scandal, legal sources said.

MP Omri Sharon faces charges of false testimony and breach of trust over his father's successful 1999 campaign for the leadership of the right-wing Likud party, in which he raised some 1.5 million dollars through shell companies.

Sharon has agreed to plead guilty for a reduced sentence, but was looking to nail a deal in which he would be sentenced to six months' community service.

However, Mazuz is determined to jail the MP for nine months, so far delaying the conclusion of any plea-bargaining, Justice Ministry sources said.

The Attorney General made his decision just 24 hours after Parliament voted to authorise the prosecution of lawmakers, without following the normal practice of lifting their Parliamentary immunity.

The bill, put forward by two Likud MPs, opened the way for corruption proceedings against Omri and left Mazuz free to press charges.

Although Omri, a Likud MP, was indicted back in February, Mazuz had been unable to push forward with the case because MPs were immune from prosecution.

According to the original indictment, one of the companies controlled by Omri, named Annex Research, took contributions from companies in Israel and abroad, worth some 1.3 million dollars, which were all illegally ploughed into his father's campaign.