An Israeli court indicted a prominent property developer yesterday on charges of trying to bribe Prime Minister Ariel Sharon when he was foreign minister in the late 1990s.

The charge sheet against David Appel said he had paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in an attempt to bribe Sharon and Ehud Olmert, then Jerusalem mayor and now Sharon?s deputy prime minister, to help him push through real estate deals.

Appel?s lawyer denies guilt

The indictment arose from long-running judicial inquiries into illegal financing for Sharon?s political campaigns before he won election as prime minister three years ago.

The funding scandals dogging the right-wing former general, who has denied any wrongdoing, have so far scarcely dented his popularity ratings based on his tough security policies against a three-year-old Palestinian uprising.

Yesterday?s charges, among the most specific and detailed to emerge so far, could cause Sharon political damage and were expected to amplify calls by the opposition left for his resignation.

Prosecutors said Appel hired Sharon?s son, Gilad, as a consultant for a real estate deal, the purchase of a Greek island resort, and paid him hundreds of thousands of dollars intended to influence Sharon to help him promote the transaction. The deal never went through.

Sharon?s office yesterday declined comment on the indictment. But Appel?s lawyer, Moshe Yisrael, said: ?There was nobody who gave anything, nor anyone who received anything.?

The indictment filed at Tel Aviv Magistrate?s Court also accused Appel of paying large sums to help Sharon and his close ally Olmert in their race for leadership of the right-wing Likud party in 1999 in return for favors.

The indictment also accused Appel of trying to bribe Sharon to help him launch a construction project in the Moshav Ginaton area near Tel Aviv.

In a separate case, investigators accuse Gilad Sharon and his brother, Omri, of using a $1.5 million loan from a South African friend as collateral to repay illicit contributions to the Likud primary. Sharon denied knowledge of the alleged loan.

Commentators had said earlier that scandals posed political problems for Sharon but saw little risk of him being forced from office as he still dominates public opinion polls with his crackdowns against Palestinian suicide bombers ? violence that has put Israel?s dovish opposition into eclipse.

But a recent opinion poll found most Israelis think Sharon should step down if there is proof of his misconduct.

Gilad and Omri Sharon had long kept silent on the campaign allegations. But last month Gilad began handing over his files to investigators after the Supreme Court ordered him to.

Shoshanna Solomon