Storm Clouds For Ariel Sharon

Israel's state prosecutor has recommended charges against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for allegedly taking bribes from a local businessman, Israel's Channel Two TV reported Saturday.

The station said prosecutor Edna Arbel would present a draft charge sheet to Attorney General Meni Mazuz, who would then decide if prosecution was warranted. The report said his decision would probably be released in about a month.

The focus of the scandal is the so-called "Greek Island Affair," in which businessman David Appel allegedly paid Sharon's son Gilad large sums of money so Sharon, then foreign minister, would use his influence to help Appel promote a tourism project in Greece in 1999.

On Jan. 21, Appel, an activist in Sharon's Likud Party, was charged with bribing the Israeli leader with $690,000 to push the idea and to help rezone urban land near Tel Aviv before and during Sharon's term as prime minister. Neither project came to pass.

Appel's lawyer, Moshe Israel, denied the charges.

If indicted, legal precedent says Sharon would have to suspend himself from office until the end of proceedings.