Last update - 00:00 04/09/2007
Fugitive Heftsiba CEO: My life would be in danger if I return to Israel
By Roni Singer-Heruti, Haaretz Correspondent
Fugitive real estate developer Boaz Yona, who is facing charges of fraud and embezzlement, said Tuesday that he fears his life would be in danger if he were to return to Israel.
Yona is the CEO of the Heftsiba construction company which collapsed recently and left hundreds of clients with immense losses.
Yona, who was arrested in Verona last week, was asked at his remand extension hearing in Venice on Tuesday whether he plans to comply with Israel's expected extradition request.
"I don't want to return to Israel for now, out of fear for my and my family's lives at the hand of 'bad people' from whom I have borrowed money," he replied.
Yona's attorneys clarified Yona's response saying this was only a temporary decision. Should Yona persist in his reluctance to comply with the extradition request, the process could take several months. However, if he complies, the extradition will take only a few weeks.
The attorneys asked the Italian court to release Yona to house arrest, and the court is expected to rule on this request in the coming days.
According to Italian law, the authorities can hold Yona for up to 40 days, during which the extradition process is expected to begin.
On Monday, Yona apologized for the damage he has caused.
"I'm really sorry for the damage I've caused. When I was on top, everyone was my friend, and now I'm all alone," Yona told attorney Yair Golan and Golan's Italian colleague, Daniela De Voan, during his first meeting with an attorney since his arrest in Italy last Thursday. The meeting took place at the police detention center in Venice.
This is the first time since his property development company, Heftsiba, collapsed that Yona has told his side of the story.
Yona said that he did not flee Israel; he went to Europe to raise money to save Heftsiba. While he was overseas, however, he realized that the company was collapsing and panicked. He feared that he would not be treated fairly in Israel and therefore did not return, he said.
The media reports in Israel troubled him deeply, as they were unfair and did him an injustice, he added.
Yona said he borrowed millions of shekels from gray-market (non-bank) lenders before he left Israel. This saved at least 2,000 families who had bought apartments from the company from being left with nothing at all, he claimed.
After leaving Israel, he spent most of his time in Italy and only a few days in Romania.
Yona, who has been on the run from the Israeli authorities since early August said he would like to return to Israel, but wants time to consider his position, due to threats against him and his wife from certain gray-market figures to whom he owes money.
This morning, an Italian court will consider whether to extend Yona's remand until extradition proceedings begin. Italian law enables him to be remanded for 40 days, but his attorneys will ask that he be released under restrictions.
Yona's wife, Tamar, and three children are still living in a house near Verona, where they have been since fleeing Israel a month ago. Tamar's attorney, Yitzhak Ben-Menahem, expressed outrage on Monday at reports claiming the police were able to locate Yona via the telephone interviews his client gave to Israeli media.