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Jail for Omri Sharon

JERUSALEM: An Israeli court sentenced the eldest son of Israel's incapacitated Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to nine months in prison on Tuesday for illegally raising funds for his father's 1999 primary election campaign. Omri Sharon pleaded guilty in November to falsifying corporate documents, perjury and violating party funding laws. Under a plea deal, prosecutors dropped charges of fraud and breach of trust but demanded imprisonment on the other counts. He resigned his parliamentary seat in January, in anticipation of the sentencing. Mr. Ariel Sharon was not charged in the affair. The charges carried a maximum of five years in prison. Under Israeli law, a legislator convicted of an offence defined as one of ``moral turpitude'' must resign. ``This is a swamp of political corruption and it must be dried up,'' Judge Edna Beckenstein was quoted as writing in the ruling. — AP

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