Israel Matzav: Omri Sharon´s Calendar Reveals Corruption in Kadima

Monday, March 06, 2006

Omri Sharon´s Calendar Reveals Corruption in Kadima

Arutz Sheva reports on the exposure of Ariel Sharon's son Omri's appointment calendar and what it shows about the manner in which the ~~Kadima~~ Achora party was formed. (I have to say that the more I hear about their plans, the more I think that Achora is the best name for this party).

Omri Sharon, son and behind-the-scenes schemer of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, was instrumental in many official appointments - with the help of Ehud Olmert and other top Kadima figures.

Channel Ten exposed documents and an appointment calendar of former MK Omri Sharon, showing the extent of his involvement in appointments to governmental and official bodies. Ministers Olmert, Sha'ul Mofaz, Tzippy Livny and others were involved as well.

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has opened an investigation into the matter, after receiving several complaints and requests to do so.

The documents are from the year 2004, when Sharon Jr. was a Likud Knesset member. In August of that year, he jotted down a list of important people he felt he needed in order to win an important upcoming Likud Central Committee vote. The issue to be decided was the inclusion of the Labor Party in the coalition government, without which the government was liable to fall.

The documents appear to show that Omri Sharon acted like the "Director-General" of the country, in the words of journalist Yoav Yitzchak: advancing certain people in exchange for their support for his father, "maintaining" the Likud, and then creating Kadima. His lists show that he was involved in tenders, municipal appointments, directorates, and the like.

The list included, next to the names, jobs that Omri planned to obtain for them. Sample entries: "A directorate for Yigal Yosef." "A directorate for Shlomo Ben-Amra." "Housing Culture Association position for Rachamim Eden - why was it not signed yet?" "meeting with Rachamim Eden, mix him a little longer."

In fact, shortly afterwards, Eden was appointed to the directorate of the Housing Culture Association - in addition to this position as Likud Chapter Head of Kfar Saba. Shlomo Ben-Amra, a Central Committee member from Kiryat Ono, was soon appointed accountant of the Be'er Sheva Religious Council.

Elsewhere in Omri Sharon's lists, he wrote that Yigal Yosef, the Mayor and Likud Chapter Head of Rosh HaAyin, should be assigned to the "Planning and Construction Committee." Another entry about Yosef says, "Meeting with Ehud [Olmert] about Yigal Yosef and in general."

In fact, Olmert's name appears many times in Omri's lists; Olmert was the Minister of Industry and Trade at the time, and he was in a position to provide Omri - who did not have the authority to make these appointments himself - with significant help in this area. Yigal Yosef, for instance, one of those whose favor Omri wished to cultivate, was appointed as head of the Industry and Trade Ministry's Regional Administration for Industrial Development.

Other ministers mentioned in Sharon's notes include Sha'ul Mofaz, Meir Sheetrit, Tzippy Livny and others - all of whom are today in the Kadima
Party.

...
Kadima campaign advisor Eyal Arad said today that the above type of wheeling-dealing is exactly the reason several MKs decided to leave the Likud and form Kadima. Likud spokesmen said in response that the people who left the Likud, such as Omri Sharon, were those who created the corruption in the Likud, and "we are happy that they have all left to Kadima."