A 2004 file photo of PM Ariel Sharon in
the Knesset with his son, Likud MK Omri Sharon,
who today admitted charges in a corruption trial.
Reuters

Likud MK Omri Sharon, the 41-year-old son of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, pleaded guilty to charges related to the financing of his father's 1999 primaries campaign, as his graft trial got underway in Tel Aviv.

Omri Sharon's lawyers were also expected to announce that their client plans to retire from politics.

The prosecution and defense were to tell the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court at the opening of his trial that they have reached a plea agreement on Omri Sharon's conviction, and the charges will be amended.

According to the indictment, Sharon - who had been appointed by his father to run his September 1999 campaign for leadership of the Likud party - received NIS 6 million in campaign financing from corporations in Israel and abroad between July 1999 and February 2000. The prosecution says the money significantly exceeds the funding caps.

Sharon is accused of funneling the money into a company called Annex Research, which was allegedly founded for that purpose. The campaign allegedly paid most suppliers and service providers through Annex Research rather than through the Sharon camp's official bank account.  

TEL AVIV Nov. 15 -- Police questioned under caution Israel's ambassador to Britain, Zvi Heifetz, who previously managed Gusinsky's business interests in Israel. Investigators suspect that Heifitz was a partner to the crimes, serving as a conduit for laundering Gusinsky's capital through his own bank accounts.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Amikam Levi, managing officer of the Foreign Ministry, filed an internal report alleging irregularities in the performance of the ambassador in Budapest, David Admon, a political appointee of Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.

Earlier, Uriel Yitshaki, consul general at the Israeli embassy in The Hague, was arrested for selling over 150 Israeli passports in exchange for bribes.