An Israeli court indicted a prominent businessman Wednesday on charges of trying to bribe Prime Minister Ariel Sharon before he took office.

The charge sheet against David Appel said he employed Sharon's son Gilad and paid him $3 million intended to influence Sharon when he was a cabinet minister in a previous government to help Appel with real estate deals.

Sharon has faced a series of funding scandals since he was first elected prime minister in 2001 but he has denied any wrongdoing. Sharon's office declined comment on the indictment.

But Appel's lawyer, Moshe Yisrael, said: "There was nobody who gave anything nor anyone who received anything."

The corruption allegations dogging Sharon have tarnished the right-wing politician's image, but analysts had said the scandals posed no imminent threat to his grip on power.

The latest allegations could prove damaging, however, as they were among the most specific and detailed to emerge so far.

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