Israel's chief prosecutor has drafted an indictment against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a long-running corruption scandal that could drive him from office, Israel's Channel 2 television said.
The report said State Attorney Edna Arbel plans to submit the charge sheet within days to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, who will make the final decision on whether to put the 76-year-old leader on trial.
Channel 2 said it could take Mazuz months to decide whether to accept Arbel's recommendations, adding to a cloud of political uncertainty that has enveloped Sharon.
A spokesman for the Justice Ministry, which represents both the state attorney and the attorney general, declined to comment on the report. Sharon's office also had no comment.
Sharon's attorney, Avigdor Klagsbald, was quoted by Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on its Web site as saying the chief prosecutor's draft was a "media manipulation attempt."
"The state is conducting a system of unfair leaks against the prime minister in an attempt to put pressure on public opinion and the opinion of the attorney general, who is the sole authority to decide whether to submit an indictment," the paper quoted him as saying.
Israel Radio quoted sources in the prime minister's office as saying Sharon would only comment on the case when Mazuz finally decided about the indictment.
Arbel's draft concluded there were sufficient grounds to charge Sharon with bribery in connection with a real estate deal involving his son, Gilad, and land developer David Appel, a stalwart of the prime minister's right-wing Likud party, the report said.
The latest development catches Sharon during a stormy time while he tries to win support from the United States and from his own cabinet for his plan unilaterally to evacuate Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and some in the West Bank.
There was no immediate indication whether the reported draft indictment would delay Sharon's planned trip to Washington on April 14 to meet U.S. President George W. Bush regarding his disengagement plan.
Palestinians fear an Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip would mask an attempt by Sharon to annex settlement blocs in the West Bank, denying them the viable state they seek.