Israeli prosecutors have announced their intention to charge the country's President with rape against at least one female former employee, in what is set to be the most severe scandal ever to engulf an Israeli head of state.

Menachem Mazuz, the country's attorney general, this afternoon issued a statement saying that that prosecutors had collected enough evidence to support an indictment against Moshe Katsav on charges of rape, harassment, sexual relations involving the abuse of power, obstruction of justice and illegally accepting gifts.

Mr Katsav, whose position is largely ceremonial, was investigated after accusations by four women who worked for him during his tenure as President and, before that, when he was a Cabinet minister.

However, despite taking a provisional decision to indict Mr Katsav, a final decision to go ahead with the charges will be made only after a special hearing in which the President himself will be able to present his case.

The President is immune from prosecution while in office but his term ends later this year. His lawyers, meanwhile, have indicated he would resign immediately if indicted in an attempt to clear his name.

"There is a great sense of relief. The facts speak for themselves," said Kinneret Barashi, the lawyer for one of the President’s alleged victims this afternoon, when interviewed by Israel's Army Radio.

Meanwhile Yossi Beilin, an MP for the left-wing Meretz party, called on the President "not to use his right to continue in his post until the end of his office and to immediately resign in order to save the Presidential establishement."

The attorney general's announcement comes three months after police said that they had uncovered enough evidence to charge the President with sexual harassment and wire-tapping. Mr Katsav has been questioned five times in the months-long investigation into the allegations.

Mr Katsav, who was elected to the role of President 2000 in a shock win over former Prime Minister and Nobel peace laureate Shimon Peres, has dismissed the charges against him as a "witchhunt" and vowed to clear his name.

He has repeatedly refused to resign unless charges are formally brought against him and has vigorously denied any wrongdoing, saying last October: "I am the victim of a despicable libel campaign."

Mr Katsav's office refused to comment on the latest scandal this afternoon.

Mr Mazuz's announcement comes at a time when Israel's political establishment is already facing extremely low levels of public confidence.

Ehud Olmert, the Prime Minister and leader of the centrist Kadima party, has recorded record low approval ratings for a Prime Minister as part of the fall-out from Israel's disastrous war with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon last summer, which has already led to the resignation of his military chief. The Prime Minister's plight worsened again two days ago, when a criminal investigation was launched into his involvement in the sale of a government-controlled bank in 2005.

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