April 13 (Reuters) - Israel's attorney general told Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday that he faced indictment for fraud, money laundering and witness-tampering, charges that could force his resignation. [ID:nLDE73C252]
Over the years a number of Israeli politicians have been convicted of various offences. These have been mostly for white-collar crime, but not exclusively. Here is a list of prominent cases in the past two decades:
* MOSHE KATSAV: The former president was sentenced to seven years in jail for rape after being convicted in December. He had denied charges he twice raped an aide when he was a cabinet minister in the late 1990s, and molested or sexually harassed two other women who worked for him during his 2000-2007 term as president.
* EHUD OLMERT: Dogged by several corruption investigations, Olmert was forced to step down as prime minister in 2009. He has been charged with bribery and fraud in connection with funds he is accused of receiving from a U.S. businessman while in previous government posts. Olmert has also been accused of double-billing flights abroad for himself and his family, and of graft in approving a controversial Jerusalem housing project while serving as city mayor in 1993-2003. Olmert has denied all wrongdoing.
* TZACHI HANEGBI: An influential opposition legislator, Hanegbi was convicted of perjury in July 2010. A court determined his offence involved "moral turpitude", effectively stripping him of his seat in parliament under Israeli law.
* AVRAHAM HIRCHSON: Former finance minister Avraham Hirchson was jailed for five years and five months in June 2009 for financial offences that included stealing more than ${esc.dollar}500,000 from a trade union he led before becoming a cabinet member in 2006.
* SHLOMO BENIZRI: Shlomo Benizri, a former cabinet minister, was sentenced in June 2009 to four years in prison for taking bribes.
* HAIM RAMON: A former justice minister and once touted as a possible future prime minister, Ramon was convicted of sexual misconduct in 2007 for forcibly kissing a woman soldier who served in the office of then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. He was sentenced to community service and returned to politics, serving in Olmert's cabinet and as a lawmaker until June 2009.
* GONEN SEGEV: A former energy and infrastructure minister from 1992 to 1995, Segev was jailed for five years in 2005 for trying to smuggle 30,000 ecstasy tablets into Israel from the Netherlands.
* YITZHAK MORDECHAI: Former Defence Minister Yitzhak Mordechai, once a rising star in Israeli politics and a retired general, was sentenced to an 18-month suspended jail term in 2001 after being convicted of two counts of sexual assault during a 32-year army career.
* EZER WEIZMAN: Weizman resigned as president in 2000, three years before his second term was due to end, after the attorney-general found he had accepted more than ${esc.dollar}300,000 in cash gifts from businessmen from 1985 to 1993. Weizman was not put on trial. He died in 2005.
* ARYEH DERI: Leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, Deri was ordered by Israel's Supreme Court to resign from the cabinet in 1993 over corruption charges. He was sentenced in 1999 to three years in prison.
(Writing by Ori Lewis and David Cutler; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Peter Graff)
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