Sharon's son indicted over corruption scandal

Omri, who is an MP for his father's right-wing Likud party, was charged by the tribunal in Tel Aviv with providing false testimony and falsifying documents in connection with the 1999 campaign for the Likud leadership.

Attorney general Menachem Mazuz decided to press the charges last month but had to wait until a bill was passed which limited MPs' immunity against prosecution.

Prosecutors have said that a company controlled by Omri, named Annex Research, took contributions from companies in Israel and abroad worth some 1.3 million dollars, which were all illegally ploughed into his father's campaign.

The prime minister himself has always insisted that he had no knowledge of the financing of his campaign, saying it was run exclusively by his son.