Israeli ex-minister guilty of sexual misconduct

JERUSALEM, Jan 31 (Reuters) An Israeli court ruled today that former Justice Minister Haim Ramon kissed a woman soldier against her will, convicting him of sexual misconduct in one of several scandals casting shadows on Israeli leaders.

The guilty verdict was unlikely to have a direct impact on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's political fortunes, but officials said he was expected to reshuffle his cabinet now that his Kadima party colleague would not be returning.

Ramon, 56, resigned from the government in August after he was indicted.

The soldier alleged that Ramon forcibly kissed her after posing, at her request, for a photograph with her at the prime minister's bureau, where she was stationed. He said she had initiated the kiss.

A Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court spokeswoman said the three-judge panel decided unanimously to convict Ramon of having carried out an indecent act against the soldier.

''We determine that the complainant did not flirt with the accused, did not initiate the kiss and did not consent to it,'' the court ruling said.

Ramon, who declined to comment to reporters as he left the court building, could face up to three years' imprisonment.

''The prime minister expresses his deep sorrow at the conviction of his friend Haim Ramon,'' Olmert's office said in a statement.

MULTIPLE SCANDALS Israel has been rocked by multiple scandals that have led many Israelis to question whether corruption is rampant within their government. Women's rights activists have long complained that machoism is pervasive in Israeli society.

President Moshe Katsav began a leave of absence last week after the attorney-general said he would draft an indictment against him for suspicions he had raped a female employee and sexually assaulted other women who worked for him.

Katsav has denied any wrongdoing in a case that many Israeli feminists see as a significant triumph in a decades-old battle against macho workplace ethics in the Jewish state.

Olmert is being investigated for his role in the 2005 privatisation of an Israeli bank and is also suspected of allegedly appointing cronies to a business authority before he was elected prime minister.

Israel's state comptroller is also examining the terms of his sale of an apartment in Jerusalem. Olmert has said he did nothing wrong in any of the matters under investigation.

Israel's military chief of staff resigned this month in the wake of a government inquiry into the state leadership's handling of Israel's inconclusive war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon last summer.

Approval ratings of both Olmert, who is due to testify tomorrw before the Lebanon war commission, and Defence Minister Amir Peretz of the centre-left Labour party have fallen sharply since the end of the 34-day war.

REUTERS BDP BST1748