Moshe Katsav, Israel's former president, was today officially charged with raping a female employee and sexually harassing two others, almost two years after he was forced to resign over the accusations.

The formal indictment came after the Iranian-born 63-year-old called off a plea-bargain arrangement that would have allowed him to avoid jail time. He said he was determined to clear his name, and recently held a rambling three-hour press conference in which he insisted on his innocence.

The allegations of two counts of rape stem from when Mr Katsav was Tourism Minister in the Likud government of Binyamin Netanyahu in the late 1990s. He is accused of raping the same employee first in his Tel Aviv office and again, two months later, at a hotel in Jerusalem. He will also be charged with indecent assault against the same plaintiff, as well as abusing his employer-employee relationship.

The lesser charges come from his term as president, when two women say he hugged and kissed them against their will while working at the president’s residence.

No date was set for the trial, one of many long-running scandals hanging over Israel’s political elite. Ehud Olmert, the outgoing Prime Minister, was forced to step down to fight corruption charges, while police are also investigating Avigdor Lieberman, expected to be the new Foreign Minister, in connection with bribery and money laundering allegations.

Mr Katsav resigned in July 2007, two weeks before his seven-year term ended. He agreed to a plea bargain whereby he would have admitted sexual misconduct but avoided going to prison.

Last April, he called off the deal and said he would clear his name in court, claiming to have been a victim of a media witch hunt.

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