Court denies appeal; former PM's son also fined NIS 300,000 for campaign misdeeds.
By JPOST STAFF, DAN IZENBERGomri sharon in court 224(photo credit: AP)
Omri Sharon, son of former prime minister Ariel Sharon, will start his prison sentence in February, the Supreme Court decided Monday.
Sharon, a former MK, was convicted of concealing illegal contributions from secret donors to his father's 1999 campaign for chairman of the Likud Party.
In his appeal, Sharon argued that because he voluntarily confessed to his actions and had taken full responsibility, he had prevented a lengthy legal process and should therefore be spared jail time. Furthermore, Sharon said, an amendment to the Campaign Finance Law, approved in 1993 - which detailed a model for financing primary campaigns financing of primaries - was known to be impossible to implement.
"This situation, whereby a law is not obeyed and is not de facto enforced […] constitutes an understanding [that jail time is unnecessary for this offense]," Sharon's lawyers wrote in their appeal. "Sharon is the first and only man to stand trial for breaking the Primaries Law since the amendment was legislated 14 years ago."
Sharon was initially sentenced in February 2007 to nine months in jail, nine months' suspended sentence and a fine of NIS 300,000. He was found guilty of making false entries in the documents of a corporate body, lying under oath and violating sections of the Political Parties Law.
In late June 2007, The Tel Aviv District Court partially accepted Sharon's appeal, and reduced his jail sentence by two months. However, the Supreme Court refused to extend him any additional leniency.
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