Israeli president faces pressure to quit

JERUSALEM, Jan 24 (Reuters) Israeli President Moshe Katsav faced growing pressure today to resign after prosecutors announced they intended to charge him with rape and other sexual offences against female employees.

Katsav, who has denied any wrongdoing, will hold a news conference at 2300 hrs his office said, to deliver his first public comments since details of a draft indictment were released by the Justice Ministry yesterday.

Local media reports said he was likely to announce an immediate leave of absence from his largely ceremonial duties to prepare for what would be the first criminal charges against an Israeli head of state.

Allegations against the Iranian-born Katsav, whose rise from the slums once served a shining example for disadvantaged Jewish immigrants from the WAsia and North Africa, have stirred deep emotions in Israel, where the presidency is supposed to be a beacon of morality.

''The president needs to resign for the good of the institution of the presidency,'' said Gideon Sa'ar, a lawmaker from the right-wing Likud party. ''If he does not do so, the ball will be in the legislators' court.'' Sa'ar's comments were echoed across the political spectrum.

Left-wing legislator Zahava Gal-On said her Meretz party would seek the required 90 signatures of lawmakers to begin impeachment proceedings in parliament against Katsav.

''I pray, I pray it won't come to this,'' Gal-On's Meretz colleague, Yossi Beilin, told Israel Radio.

Under Israeli law, a president cannot be put on trial while in office. Katsav's term is due to end in July.

The case was unlikely to have a direct impact on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who himself is under investigation over alleged corruption.

Olmert has denied any misdeeds in the matters being probed -- suspected influence-peddling in the sale of his Jerusalem home in 2004 and an alleged attempt to give cronies a boost in bidding for a state-owned bank in 2005.

SEXUAL ASSAULT The Katsav scandal erupted last year when several former staffers filed complaints with police, accusing him of sexual assault.

The Justice Ministry, listing four alleged victims by their initials in the draft indictment, said yesterday it intends to charge Katsav with raping one of the women, using his status to force another to have sex with him and committing indecent acts against all of them.

Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz said he would grant Katsav a hearing, whose date would be set soon, to present legal arguments before final charges are drawn up.

''The president is convinced it will become clear to all he is the victim of false accusations intended to push him out of his job, and he will fight to prove his innocence,'' said one of Katsav's lawyers, David Liba'i.

Parliament elected Katsav president in 2000 -- he beat Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres -- after Ezer Weizman resigned from the post following revelations he received 450,000 dollar in gifts from a French millionaire. Weizman died in 2005.

Peres, 83, and currently vice prime minister, has been mooted as a candidate to succeed Katsav.

Reuters SSC GC1517