JERUSALEM, Jan. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Police have evidence that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's family allegedly received 3 million U.S. dollars in bribes from Austrian businessman Martin Schlaff, part of a complicated case involving illegal campaign contributions, Channel 10 TV reported Tuesday.

   The report showed a document, that was delivered by police to a court, which confiscated material from the home of the Schlaff family in Israel, that it had evidence of the bribe.

   Lior Chorev, a key Sharon aide, refused to comment Tuesday. "No official is saying this, but a reporter said so," he said.

   According to the report, the development in the case against Sharon occurred after police raided the Schlaff family home, while Martin's brother James Schlaff was visiting Israel, and confiscated two laptops and palm pilots that may have the information detailing the alleged money transfers to the Sharon family.

   The television report said the latest turn in the bribery case stems from an investigation into a shady 1.5-million-dollar loan, which the Sharon family took from South African businessman Cyril Kern to pay back illegal contributions to Sharon's 1999 primary election campaign.

   It said that police have suspected for some time that Kern was not the source of the loan, rather, a conduit for money from Austrian magnate Schlaff and his son, James.

   The Kern investigation began following Sharon's victory in the 1999 Likud leadership primaries when the then-Likud chairman went into debt to repay around 1.5 million dollars in illegal campaign contributions.

   In 2002, Sharon's sons, Omri and Gilad received a 1.5-million-dollar loan, originating in Austria from Kern, to repay a loan the family had taken out to repay the donations.

   In November 2002, Omri and Gilad received two additional transfers from the Austrian bank BAWAG totaling close to 3 million dollars.

   Israeli police have investigated two cases involving Sharon and his sons, but the prime minister has never been charged. Omri Sharon resigned from the Knesset (parliament) on Tuesday after conviction on charges tied to the same case covered in the Channel 10 report.

   Omri Sharon pleaded guilty last November on falsifying corporate documents, perjury and violating party funding laws. Under a plea deal, prosecutors dropped charges of fraud and breach of trust but are demanding imprisonment on the other counts. Enditem