Sharon sacks Israeli deputy minister

TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Tuesday dismissed one of the senior members of his Likud Party, Deputy Infrastructure Minister Naomi Blumenthal, in a scandal over alleged vote buying. The scandal has been rocking the Likud less than a month before national elections, and has found the prime minister's son, Omri, in the limelight.

Ariel Sharon fired Blumenthal, 59, after she invoked her right to remain silent in a police investigation into suspected vote buying in the party primaries.

Police are investigating allegations that candidates paid for votes. Authorities are trying to establish who paid for accommodations in an expensive hotel for supporters when the primaries were held. They detained the man who paid the money -- in cash -- but he seems to have been a go-between. They also briefly detained Blumenthal's driver, according to some reports, because he allegedly delivered an envelope with the money. Blumenthal herself has parliamentary immunity and cannot be detained. Lifting her immunity requires Knesset (parliamentary) approval.

Sharon maintained that a public personality cannot exercise a right to remain silent. "Let that person become a private person and then exercise that right," the prime minister's spokesman, Arnon Perlman, said Tuesday.

The scandal seems to have begun several months ago when the Likud's ranks suddenly trebled to more than 300,000 members. Until then, Sharon's main rival, former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, seemed to command the most support.

According to the Ma'ariv newspaper, Sharon and his associates decided to change the Likud around, partly to ensure the political future of Omri Sharon.

"Omri teamed up with former criminals and suspicious types who recruited thousands of new members, almost at any cost," Ma'ariv alleged Friday.

Some of the new party members were former South Lebanese Army soldiers, who are not Israeli citizens and thus not eligible to become party members. Thousands of people joined two parties or more. Interested parties paid the new recruits' membership dues, several sources said.

The Likud members elected a central committee that then chose the list of Knesset candidates. It was done in a carnival atmosphere where candidates competed in serving pizzas, hot dogs, chewing gum, coffee, and in blaring music. There were reports that money exchanged hands.

The Israeli election system provides that each party presents a list of candidates, and the number of votes a party gets determines how many people on that list enter the Knesset. The first on the list is the first to get in.

The Likud list seemed odd. Outstanding members, including the Defense, Justice and Communications ministers, the mayor of Jerusalem, and the coalition chairman were far down on the list, while others, including a little-known waitress whose family is involved in casinos abroad, did surprisingly well.

Blumenthal initially seemed to be losing the race but made it to the ninth slot. Her spokeswoman denied that she put up supporters in a hotel and used to give fat checks as presents in events she attended.

Blumenthal initially seemed to be trying to evade police who eventually told the court that she had gone "underground." The claim seemed an exaggeration. However, Blumenthal then went to police fraud-squad headquarters, and a senior police source told United Press International that she would not answer questions.

Sharon's reaction was swift. He demanded an explanation, apparently got none, and acted.

Yediot Aharonot newspaper said Blumenthal "was thrown into the gladiator's ring, facing a bloodthirsty crowd, and Emperor Sharon put his thumb down."

No one really came out in her defense. "The prime minister set an important and morally correct norm," Industry Minister Danny Naveh said.

But there is a feeling of unease in the Likud, a sense that Sharon pounced on an easy target.

Blumenthal has no camp of her own. "From one election to another, she surprises (people) by reaching a high slot. She seems to be supported mainly by her husband," Yediot Aharonot said. Blumenthal's husband, Michael, is reputed to be a wealthy eye doctor.

"Naomi is not a bad woman," a Likud activist told UPI. "She's not part of the underworld. Maybe she took a few stinking moves ... but activists in the field are unhappy (Sharon) found a scapegoat," the source added.

A public opinion poll conducted for Channel 1 TV showed that 75 percent of the respondents believe that here are more cases of wrongdoing.

"The problem is not Naomi Blumenthal," Knesset Speaker Avraham Burgh of the rival Labor Party said. "It's Moshe Alperon, Shlomi Oz," Burgh said, alluding to people with a criminal past. Oz is a friend of Omri Sharon's and controls one of the Likud's main branches.

Blumenthal did not immediately comment on her dismissal. On Monday, reporters quoted a source close to her as accusing Sharon of "deliberately and maliciously shifting the fire toward her rather than coping with his own responsibility for the Likud roll call and the question of who brought the criminal elements to the Likud."

Several months ago, Omri Sharon refused to answer police questions on financing his father's race in 1999. The state controller said in a report published in September 2001 that the younger Sharon refused to answer questions "so as not to incriminate himself" and not to harm others.

Perlman, Sharon's spokesman, said that at that time that Omri was a private person. Now he is 27th on the Likud list of candidates.

Perlman stressed Tuesday that any public personality who will exercise the right to remain silent in a police investigation will face action similar to that taken against Blumenthal. "Every public personality," he stressed. Prime Minister Sharon has said he was confident that his son was clean.