06 February 2004	Friday	14 Zilhaj 1424

TEL AVIV, Feb 5: Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon told police on Thursday he knew nothing of dealings his son had with a man charged in a bribery scandal that cast a shadow over the prime minister's plans to uproot Jewish settlements from Gaza.

Sources close to the inquiry said the prime minister told investigators he was unaware of his son Gilad's deals with an Israeli businessman friend charged with trying to bribe Sharon when he was foreign minister in the 1990s.

Police questioned Mr Sharon for two-and-a-half hours at his official residence. "Sharon told the police he was not aware of Gilad's employment as an adviser to (developer) David Appel, and gave no new information about the case," a source close to the inquiry told Reuters.

"The police investigation will wind up soon and the attorney general will make a final decision on the case in two months." A senior police source said earlier Sharon had cooperated fully and there were no immediate plans to question him again.

Analysts say Sharon would probably be forced from office if he were indicted.

Some critics have suggested the prime minister's shock announcement this week of a plan to move settlers from the Gaza Strip might aim to divert attention from the scandal - a notion the prime minister, a champion of settlement-building, denied.

Commentators said the case could weaken Sharon's hand in any talks with the Palestinians on reviving a US-backed peace "road map" stalled by violence, or alternatively in garnering support in Israel for unilateral moves if the plan collapses. -Reuters