Will Gaydamak Be Back?


Israeli mogul and owner of the Betar Jerusalem Football Club Arkadi Gaydamak was hit Thursday with an indictment alleging he laundered some NIS 650 million. Nahum Galmor, Gaydamak's business partner, and two senior executives in Poalim Trust, Haim Shamir and Shlomo Recht, were also indicted.


…………. Gaydamak is currently on a trip to Russia. He left NIS 4 million as bail when he left the country. In case he fails to return to Israel, it will be confiscated. (JPost.)

Arkady Gaydamak is usually described as a “Russian/Israeli billionaire”. He has a dramatic rags-to-riches biography – making aliya from Russia aged 20, then working as a sailor for ZIM shipping lines, then moving to France where he worked as a gardener and bricklayer. Gaydamak became a successful businessman in France, but often courted controversy and legal challenges.

Gaydamak is wanted by police in France on charges connected to the illegal exporting of arms to Angola, and tax evasion. In Israel, where Gaydamak has been living since leaving France in around 2004, allegations of misdemeanor have been gathering since 2006.

Gaydamak reached his peak of popularity in Israel during the 2nd Lebanon War when he initiated and funded an emergency evacuee-camp on the beach for Israeli families who left the war-torn North of Israel. (I, together with Lema’an Achai, ran a similar program in Bet Shemesh, regretfully garnering less publicity!).

In 2007 Gaydamak went into Israeli politics establishing “Social Justice” – a new party. In 2008, Gaydamak flopped as a candidate for Jerusalem mayor, attracting just 3% of the vote.

With charges of fraud and money laundering, to the tune of 650M NIS, now issued by police in Israel against Gayadamak and his partners, and leaving a measly 4m NIS as deposit before hopping to Russia, I can see no good reason for Gaydamak to return any time soon to Israel.

Can you?

Comments

  1. Anonymous12 October 2009 at 19:38

    He is a coward,has also promised to go to France to attend his trial but has never showed up.He cheated everybody,including governments,that is why he lost his Angolan passport.he is finished 8

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Marrying a Soloveitchik

Image
Mazaltov! My nephew, Gedaliah Kestenbaum married Devori Soloveitchik in Jerusalem last week. Gedaliah has married into rabbinical aristocracy .    Devori is the daughter of  Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik, and the grand-daughter of Rabbi  Meshulam Dovid (Reb Dovid) Soloveitchik , who is Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Brisk (one of the two) in Jerusalem . The Soloveitchik's are a rabbinical dynasty descended from Rabbi  Yosef Dov (HaLevi) Soloveitchik (The "Beis Halevi") and his son Rabbi  Chaim Soloveitchik ("Reb Chaim Brisker"). Rav Chaim's sons Rabbi  Yitzchak Zev (Reb Velvel) Soloveitchik ("The GRIZ" The Brisker Rov) and Rabbi  Moshe Soloveitchik seem to have gone in different hashkafik directions. Whereas Reb Velvel's descendents are predominantly right wing hareidim, Rav Moshe's branch are leaders in the Modern Orthodox/National Religious hashkafa – most notably Rav Joseph Ber Soloveitchik ("The Rav")
Read more

Hoax Letter Sent to Synagogue

Image
            (Beis Tefillah Synagogue, Ramat Beit Shemesh) The following hoax letter has been sent to members of the Beis Tefillah Synagogue board of management, as if it was written by Rabbi CM [ed. name respectfully withheld] who serves as their rabbi: I think that as long as David Morris sets policy for L.A [ed. Lema'an Achai ], and is their public face,  I will not allow L.A. to use the Shul for fundraising purposes. This will change if: 1)David M apologizes publicly for stating,and insinuating again and again(in many forums,but especially in his childish Tzedek Tzedek blog) that , as a group ,  "Rabbis" (of RBSA ) are guilty of aiding and abetting and enabling child molesters.(And that of course that leaves LA to come to the rescue of our children.) OR IF  2)LA  publicly , clearly,and unambiguously disavows such statements .They must say--we clearly,and unambiguously ,disavow  statements or blogs which say or imply that  Rabbis  of RBSA (as a group ) aid or a
Read more