Arcadi Gaydamak
Photo: Dudi Vaaknin
Stay of exit order issued against Gaydamak
Court sets bail at $2.5 million to prevent businessman, Jerusalem mayoral candidate from fleeing police questioning ahead of Dutch company money laundering trial
The Petah Tikva Magistrate Court issued a stay of exit order against businessman and Jerusalem mayoral candidate Aracadi Gaydamak on Tuesday, in order to ensure he does not flee police questioning on the money laundering charges brought against him in a case involving a Dutch company.
Judge Aharon Golds said after looking over a confidential report filed by the State, he decided to follow the State Prosecutor's Office's recommendation to set Gaydamak's bail at US$2.5 million.
Long Affair
Dozens of businessman, politicians and public figures, including Russian-Israeli businessman Aracdi Gaydamak and son of late French president Francois Mitterrand go on trial over a vast 'arms-to-Angola' scandal
According to Golds, bail deposits that Gaydamak has left in the past have expired after being extended several times, and since this is expected to be a long and complicated trial, new bail should be set.
About four months ago the Israel Money Laundering Prohibition Authority informed Gaydamak's attorneys that the State was considering filing an indictment against him in the case of the Dutch company, and if the billionaire wished, he could be given a hearing before the decision.
Gaydamak is suspected of working with associates Nahum Galmor and Shlomo Recht and the Poalim Trust Services Company to launder money from a Dutch company by defrauding shareholders by telling them that Galmor was interested in buying the firm, while it was really Gaydamak behind the $50 million offer.
The suspects planned to hide Gaydamak's identity for fear that the shareholders would not agree to sell him the company. Gaydamak and Galmor then used a subsidiary company owned by Bank Hapoalim to carry out the deal.
Sources close to Gaydamak told Ynet it was the State Prosecutor's Office who filed for a stay of exit order to be issued against him and that he planned to appeal the ruling.
"They are trying to put Gaydamak through hurdles again and again. It's simply amazing. This is political persecution in the most critical week of the election system that is harming the democratic process of elections for mayor of Jerusalem," one source said.
"Arcadi Gaydamak is in the middle of an election campaign, there is no indictment against him, and these media spins are just ridiculous."
Roi Mandel contributed to this report
