Barak rejected Nimrodi's request, telling him he does not deal with pardons. Barak told him further that, in his opinion, much more time should pass between the commission of a crime and a request for a pardon.

Nimrodi also met with President Ezer Weizman hoping to secure a pardon, but this request also was denied.

The new charges against Nimrodi include conspiring to murder state's witness Ya'acov Tsur, paying off hundreds of thousands of dollars to various people to hamper the investigation and receive information, offering bribes to former and serving senior police officers, and tampering with witnesses.

The 20-page list of charges, many of which were once scoffed at by Nimrodi's lawyer could lead to a prison sentence of at least nine years, legal experts said.

The indictment does not touch on previous allegations that Nimrodi was conspiring to murder the publishers of two rival papers, Yediot Achronot and Ha'aretz.