Sharon faces new scandal over ties to former hostage
JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, March 3, 2004
(03-03) 12:00 PST JERUSALEM (AP) --
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was embroiled in a new political scandal
Wednesday after a newspaper reported he had a close business
relationship with the former father-in-law of an Israeli businessman
released in a prisoner swap with Lebanese guerrillas.
Sharon had pushed hard for the lopsided prisoner exchange that
included the release of Elhanan Tannenbaum, a reputed drug dealer with
big gambling debts, from his Hezbollah captors in January.
The Maariv daily left Sharon open to allegations of playing favorites
with the prisoner exchanges. He denied the report in an Israel TV
interview on Wednesday as "vicious libel, the likes of which I've
never encountered."
There was no suggestion Sharon broke the law in the Tannenbaum case.
However, the prime minister faces possible prosecution for two other
scandals, including one involving alleged bribe-taking, and could be
forced to resign if indicted. Sharon has denied wrongdoing in those
cases.
Tannenbaum, a colonel in the army reserves who already has admitted
trying to set up a drug deal, is now suspected of selling secrets to
the Lebanese guerrilla group, security officials say.
Maariv said Sharon once had a close business relationship with
Tannenbaum's former father-in-law, Shimon Cohen.
The newspaper said Cohen, father of Tannenbaum's ex-wife, Esther,
helped run Sharon's farm in the 1970s and later helped form a company
that took over the farm's management when Sharon became agriculture
minister.
Security officials told the newspaper they were baffled by Sharon's
commitment to securing Tannenbaum's release, although they stopped
short of saying the Cohen relationship influenced the prime minister's
decisions.
Sharon said Wednesday he had only learned about Cohen's ties to
Tannenbaum the previous evening. He said he had not spoken to Cohen in
decades.
Cohen, 89, said he hadn't been in touch with Sharon since the 1970s.
He also said that when Tannenbaum's children met with Sharon to push
for their father's release, he told them not to mention his name.
"I told them, 'Don't say that you're my grandchildren, don't even send
my regards, so no one thinks you're looking for special favors,"'
Cohen told Israel Radio.
Sharon also won support from his justice minister, Yosef Lapid. "This
is an embarrassing story ... but as long as it is not proven
otherwise, the prime minister speaks the truth," Lapid said.
Nonetheless, the disclosure created new troubles for Sharon, who
already is being investigated for allegedly accepting bribes and
illegal campaign financing.
"Every day you get up and there is another scandal surrounding the
prime minister. ... The prime minister has become a serial 'I don't
knower,"' said Eitan Cabel, a lawmaker from the opposition Labor
Party.
The prisoner swap with Hezbollah guerrillas was controversial,
especially among hard-liners who form the core of Sharon's support.
The trade -- 436 Arab prisoners and the bodies of 59 slain guerrillas
for Tannenbaum and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers -- was the
first time Israel freed prisoners for an Israeli civilian kidnapped on
private business.
Critics said the deal strengthened Hezbollah's standing and would
encourage militants to snatch Israeli civilians around the world.
The criticism has mounted since Tannenbaum's release as details about
his abduction come out.
Tannenbaum, who remains in police custody, has admitted he was an
indebted gambler lured into a Hezbollah trap in a drug deal. His
reputation suffered a further blow when two former lovers -- one of
them the mother of his 10-year-old son -- said Tannenbaum was a
scoundrel.
But investigators' real concern is what sort of information Tannenbaum
may have shared with Hezbollah and whether he was trading intelligence
information for money.
Tannenbaum's fate now hinges on a lie detector test administered
Tuesday and Wednesday.
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