Top Israeli Faces Probe Into Frenchman’s Gift
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JERUSALEM — Israel has begun a probe into allegations that President Ezer Weizman accepted more than $450,000 from a French Jewish millionaire while Weizman was a member of parliament, the Justice Ministry said Monday.
Weizman, who was first elected president in 1993, has confirmed receiving money from a longtime friend, French businessman Edward Sarusi. The president’s office said the donations were legal.
On Monday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted confidants of Weizman as saying that the funds were a personal gift used to pay for medical treatment for Weizman’s son, Shaul, who was wounded in battle in the early 1970s and died in a car accident in 1991.
Haaretz reported that Weizman used more than $20,000 of the alleged $453,465 to pay income tax debts. About $100,000 more ended up in the bank account of Weizman’s daughter, the report said.
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