JERUSALEM, Jan 3: Israeli police have evidence which allegedly shows Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s family received a bribe of three million dollars from an Austrian billionaire, Channel 10 television reported on Tuesday.

According to the report on the private channel, Mr Sharon’s family received the money from Austrian financier Martin Shlaff in connection with a scandal involving illegal campaign contributions during the 1999 elections.

There was no immediate confirmation of the report by Israeli police nor were officials in Mr Sharon’s office prepared to comment on the issue.

Police reportedly uncovered the evidence during an extended investigation which saw them seizing mobile phones and laptop computers belonging to members of the Shlaff family in Israel.

The Channel 10 report also showed a police document which had been presented to an Israeli court in which it outlined evidence of the alleged bribe.

The money is thought to be linked to an unresolved corruption scandal in which Sharon was suspected of receiving a 1.5-million-dollar loan from South African businessman Cyril Kern that was allegedly used to refund contributions to his 1999 leadership campaign after they were deemed irregular.

The news came just hours after one of Sharon’s sons, Omri, resigned from parliament ahead of his sentencing for providing false testimony and falsifying documents in a case linked to the financing of one of his father’s leadership campaigns.—AFP