Last update - 00:00 05/10/2006
Mazuz, state prosecutor slam Gaydamak ad campaign against police
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
The attorney general and state prosecutor yesterday denounced an ad campaign by businessman Arkadi Gaydamak that deems the police investigation against him "baseless libel."
In a joint statement, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz and State Prosecutor Eran Shendar said the texts, which appeared in full page advertisements in the Yedioth Ahronoth and Maariv Hebrew newspapers yesterday, were an attempt "to intimidate the head of the police's investigations unit" and "a savage attack" on law enforcement in general.
The Russian-born Israeli tycoon, who is currently under investigation for involvement in an alleged billion dollar money laundering affair, accused Police Investigations and Intelligence chief Yohanan Danino of conducting a personal crusade against him.
"Who and what are you, Danino?" asks Gaydamak in the ad, accusing the police officer of trying to scare him and tarnish his reputation. "You have obstructed the law by trying to intimidate me with your uniform for what I had to say about your criminal activities."
Gaydamak accuses Danino of wasting millions of shekels of state funds on the investigation against him, asserting that all the accusations and moves against him were trumped up, forged and a violation of human rights.
He said that as a result, the government was unable to pay Magen David Adom ambulance services' expenses during the war in Lebanon a cost that he voluntarily agreed to cover.
The police and state prosecutor are considering legal action against Gaydamak for insulting a civil servant and obstructing the investigation.
Gaydamak has been under a police investigation for more than 18 months on suspicion of money laundering activities involving sums of tens of millions of dollars. The state prosecutor is expected to decide within a few days whether to indict him.
In the ad, Gaydamak also accuses Danino of trying to intimidate him and tarnish his reputation and for inventing the Bank Hapoalim affair for personal motives. He says Danino caused not only moral and financial damage to hundreds of upright citizens, but huge damage to Israel, as billions of dollars were taken out of the Israeli banking system and economy.
Mazuz and Shendar expressed in their statement their full backing for Danino's work, dismissing what they called Gaydamak's "baseless libel." They said they hoped the ad's timing was not an attempt to sway the decision to hold a hearing for Gaydamak.
Mazuz told reporters yesterday that the decision to open an investigation against Bank Hapoalim and account owners in connection with suspected money laundering was made in February 2005. The move was criticized by certain parties who said it would harm the Israeli economy, he said.
"But Israel must decide whether it's a law abiding state or one that tolerates evasions of the law. Israel must not be a pariah. We've been on black lists before and they exacted an economic price that was just as high," Mazuz said.