Sharon sells his office

Well, he may not have completed the transaction, but it could well be that the $1.5 million he received illegally from a South African businessman will result in his departure from the premiership. Sharon's spokesmen denied any wrongdoing until half an hour ago, when Ha'aretz - who originally broke the story - reported Sharon's concession that he received the loot from Cyril Kerns. Ha'aretz reports:

According to the allegations, Ariel Sharon received $1.5 million from Cyril Kern, a South African citizen, to serve as collateral for a loan his sons Omri and Gilad took out to pay back a company from which Sharon received illegal campaign contributions during his primaries campaign for the Likud leadership... [a spokesman] denied that the loan from Kern was a bribe, and said that it was a lawful loan that was repaid with interest last month... The state's written request implies that Sharon and his son Gilad deliberately deceived the State Comptroller and the police when they were questioned about how Sharon intended to repay the money, as ordered by the State Comptroller.

Gilad Sharon went to the Leumi Bank branch in Sderot, where the family accounts are kept, and on October 22 asked for a NIS 4.2 million loan, the remainder of what his father was supposed to pay back to Annex Research. In exchange for the loan, it was agreed that Gilad would mortgage the family-owned Sycamore Ranch. The loan was granted, and the next day, the prime minister handed over NIS 4.2 million to Annex research. But when the bank began processing the mortgage application, it discovered that it is impossible to mortgage the ranch because it is leased property owned by the Israel Lands Administration. The bank demanded an alternative arrangement to the mortgage, or the money back, so the Sharon family had to find another solution - and found it in South Africa.

Somehow it doesn't shock me that Sharon uses illegal cash - his political career was first scuttled in the early 80's when his wife was found to have an illegal bank account in the U.S. It wasn't a big problem - they were only talking about a few thousand dollars - but it was enough to force his resignation as a minister. This one may prove to be enough for Likud (frightened of losing seats in coming elections) to edge him out in favor of Bibi.