By YAAKOV KATZtzahi hanegbi 298.88(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)Minister Tzahi Hanegbi - Kadima
Police recommended indicting Minister Tzahi Hanegbi on Wednesday on charges of making illegal political appointments. Hanegbi came under investigation in August 2004 after the State Comptroller published a report alleging he had "brutally trampled the law" as environment minister from 2001 to 2003 by illegally appointing Likud cohorts.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon - Kadima
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is under investigation in the Cyril Kern loan affair. Police suspect that a $1.5 million loan he received from the South African businessman was really meant to serve as a bribe from foreign businessmen heavily invested in Israel. Police officers recently said chances were slim that the investigation would end before the elections.
MK Omri Sharon - Kadima
Sharon Jr. is facing a prison term and suspension from the Knesset after he pleaded guilty last month to laundering illegal funds for his father's 1999 election campaign. The charges included making false entries into documents of a corporate body and lying under oath. His sentencing will be in January.
MK Nomi Blumenthal - Likud
Blumenthal's trial in the "City Tower" scandal is in its final stages and she is currently waiting for a verdict. Blumenthal was charged with bribery and of disrupting her own trial after she allegedly paid the hotel bills of Likud central committee members in return for their votes in the Likud primaries.
MKs Yehiel Hazan and Michael Gorlovsky - Likud
Both MKs were indicted in the 2003 double-voting scandal when they allegedly voted in place of absent Likud members during a Knesset vote. Last month, Hazan was caught on camera removing evidence linked to his trial from the Knesset warehouse.
MK Yair Peretz - Shas
Under a plea bargain with the prosecution, Peretz was convicted last month after he admitted to fraudulently obtaining an academic degree. Peretz received a degree from US-based Burlington College and admitted to copying a paper he submitted as his thesis. His sentencing will be in February.
MK Shlomo Benizri - Shas
Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz announced his decision to file an indictment against Benizri for accepting a bribe, fraud and breach of trust. The decision is conditional on a hearing the AG has yet to grant him. Benizri is suspected of receiving bribes in exchange for providing inside information on foreign worker quotas to a contractor.
MK Salah Tarif - Labor
A former Minister and MK, Tarif has appealed his 2003 conviction on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust for having bribed an Interior Ministry official to grant Israeli citizenship to a Palestinian friend. He was sentenced to a fine and community service. The Knesset decided this week that he could reenter the Knesset in place of Amram Mitzna.
MK Ahmed Tibi - Tal
Tibi is under investigation for allegedly traveling to Lebanon without permission from the Interior Ministry. Tibi was questioned in September for several hours by the police's International Serious Crimes Unit in Petah Tikva.
