Lawyers: State close to indicting Gaydamak for money laundering

i like to see somone like him take care of israel he is a real pioner...

the man help israel, improve lives of other, show me one israeli that in one time or another realy clean all the way to the bank...i only know of one, real pioner, .....in 1976

Thank you for your sincerity! It doesn't matter is the Guydamak crook or not but the society and police shouldn't be prejudged so frankly.

that israeli local indeed corrupted politicians are "kosher", but any guy from russia irritates such ilk of public...

clickfool, all you are writing about are accusations. Where are the court verdicts which will turn him into a criminal? All there is in terms of accusations mean nothing in a democracy and can not be held against him.

For once Clickfool is right ,Gaydamak should shake hand with is great mentor Flato-Sharon.

There are some gift horses whose mouths should be examined closely. Gaydamak's is one of them. You are right that through its own arrogant incompetence the government gave him the opportunity he needed to ingratiate himself last summer. But do we really need to welcome crooks just because they are fabulously rich? Is that the Israel we want?

Even believers may see how corrupted many Israelis are. So end the Torah myth. It is not the cure, it is the curse. And I know many good, gentle and honest Torah believers. Unforturnately, faith is dogma. Ordinary elievers can be very blind. Biased. Mostly wrong. =========================== There is a modern concept of honesty, integrity. It is called reason. Enlightenment.

I am against corruption as much as the next man, but Haaretz has been pulling way too many "indiced by the media" stunts recently for any democracy to be comfortable with. Who appointed them as judge and jury? There is a world of a difference between "close to indicting" and actually convicting a person of a crime. This article is full of "may have" and "is suspected of" and other conjecture. It wouldn't be any more fair if I applied the same conjecture to Haaretz's top editors which are "suspected of" working with Palestinian terrorist groups.

and i'm quite pleased of your corny swearing...

I assume that Gaydamak will be locked away for life for giving free tickets to soccer games. The Israeli police force is busy running after the wrong people. What about the murderers, rapists, car thieves and the like? Give us all a break and let Gaydamak continue the good work that he does in peace.

"are you so boorish because he is "russian"?" What a ridiculous man you are. What has Gaydamak's Russian origin to do with anything? Have you checked this man's credentials using Google? He's an absolute villain, a mega-crook. He shouldn't be allowed anywhere near Israeli public life. You'd have to be an imbecile to support him.

A stitch in time saves nine. If Israel hadn't made a royal botch of France's request to freeze Gaydamek's assets pending investigation for money laundering, Israel might not have to waste time investigating him for money laundering. Make-work.

1. It appears that the police/prosecutors/ courts and press act in a coordinated way to suppress any new power bases that may threaten the existing elite. First Deri now the Russians. It is a scary reality for a private citizen. 2. It is offensive and anti-democratic the way the system "leaks" its intentions to the press to indict this guy. The police and prosecutors are paid by us to do justice and not to carry out vendettas to enhance their egos. Character assasination in the press is not in their job description. Even if a guy is acquitted, the elite does not stop such as in the Ganot appointment. They put an X on you you better just move back to your country of origin because they are relentless and play only to win. 3. So too the new Justice Minister's attempt to balance the power between knesset and court. Seems very rational to me (a US lawyer) yet the embedded elites are gearing up to destory him and his policies. He is "extreme" a "threat" to "democracy" (poor beaten concept

Let us remind ourselves about whom we are discussing. Gaydamak is a fugitive from the French judicial system, by whom he is wanted for serious alleged arms dealing offences. He fled to Israel several years back, as there is no extradition treaty between France and Israel. He is otherwise able to travel abroad without much restrictions, owing to his Angolan diplomatic passport (how he got that is a story in itself). Gaydamak tries to ingratuate himself in various influential quarters through generous donations to a wide range of charitable causes. Indeed, the alleged fact that Gaydamak is closely allied to Benjamin Netanyahu in respect to his new political drive, begs all sorts of other questions....

'repatriate' gaydamak back to france where he is wanted for illegal arms dealings and tax evasion.

and because that that strong guy is backed (if they won't kill him...)

When he was paying to provide shelter for the northern displaced refugees, or sending the residents of Sderot for a well needed break in Eilat we all thought it was a well placed act of kindness, but, honestly, was there anyone who could not see straight through it? The fact (Maureen) that it was for political expediency does not, however, decrease the effect the act had upon the needy at that time. He is not intending to run for office directly, but to start a party, he will obviously use his wealth to generate votes to have who he wants in power in the Knesset. Even if he has only good intentions, I would prefer not to see a puppet cabinet. It is a shame that a genuinely competent and successful businessman doesn't rise from the masses to bring some well needed intelligence, a successful track record and business acumen to the cabinet, but why would someone who can excell in business stoop to dirty his hands with Israeli politics?

Anybody that threatens the monopoly control of the ruling Israeli oligarchy can expect harrassment by the police and state prosecutors office and slander by the media. As Dov said above, Peres and the Oslo gang still sit at the pinnacle of power after bringing Arafat and his terror gangs to kill or wound thousands of Israeli, but anybody new who wants to change things is harrassed by the Establishment. Bring back tar and feathering!

you are 100% correct!!!

It distresses me no end to see that a jerk like Clickfool, who has nothing positive to say about Israel, is one of the only talkbackers to agree with me. To Vital #9, may I paraphrase an American vice-presidential candidate: This man Gaydamak is no Rothchild. To Yuval #12, yes, the cops need to do more to police US, but you must be able to see that Gaydamak is here solely because he sees a country for sale, a depressed people ripe for the picking. COME ON, EVERYONE, OPEN YOUR EYES!

Gaydamak says he wants to see a welfare state here. And who doesn't? But a welfare state isn't founded on donations from rich people. A welfare state is founded on everyone's just contribution; equality before the law, a just taxation system...far from the corrupt system we have here in Israel these days. You wouldn't see anyone on slave salaries; the situation of the foreign workers is disgusting. I wonder how many hours they work a week?

Your loutishness is understandable, you don't slam obviously corrupted israelis..., are you agree this has stinky snobbery smack?

that gave respite to the children of Northern Israel?

he gave those tickets to Zaken. What had she done to deserve them.. My question is, when are we going to start screening people before they reach important positions in this country? IF Gaydamak has anythng to hide, he shouldn't be allowed to run for any public office. NOONE with a record should. Basta. Has anyone hears of the French(orig.Norwegian) judge called Eva Joly? Let's hire her to lead an anti-corruption taskforce. That's what we need in this country.

I would rather see police teaching people to use their blinkers and stop cell-phoning while driving than investigating free soccer tickets. Who care's? For all I care he can give away free hotdogs and coke to the whole Kennesset. Does anyone really believe free tickets would sway a political decision?

"Al Capone was well-known among Chicago residents for his generosity. He opened several soup kitchens in poor suburbs, provided milk rations to children to help fight a rickets epidemic, and often helped impoverished Italian-Americans" http://www.wisegeek.com/who-is-al-capone.htm

"This man has one goal only: To enter politics not for our benefit, but for his own - to make more money and attain more power. To do this he needs to legislate laws. The Knesset is the only way. Besides, it will give him immunity from the law. He is a megalomaniac whose arrogance is breathtaking. Can`t you put aside your admittedly well-placed disdain for our current leadership and see this?" That this crook, who travels the world on a bought Angolan diplomatic to avoid arrest, should even be considered for a position of political power in Israel is astonishing. His dodginess is beyond dispute. What are you, in Israel, doing to yourselves? Don't you have enough incompetents, nepotists, cronies, rapists, gropers and other assorted sleazeballs running your affairs as it is? Why would you want to put the equivalent of a Mafia don into a position of power. As Jack says, WAKE UP!!

Instead to pay an appreciation to Gatdamak for his social activity, like it was done to Rothchild in past, envious people, uncapable to solve a growing social injustice in Israel, opened a new page of destruction of those who can play an important role in pulic life. This hunting resembles the process taking by Putin in Russia. Shame!

Quite amazing, as soon one is runnig for public office ,how they love stirring the dirt ,but look who is investing who !!!

Today he's a gift horse. You don't think you'll need Vitamin P with him someday too - or worse? Come on, you can't be THAT daft.

This man has one goal only: To enter politics not for our benefit, but for his own - to make more money and attain more power. To do this he needs to legislate laws. The Knesset is the only way. Besides, it will give him immunity from the law. He is a megalomaniac whose arrogance is breathtaking. Can't you put aside your admittedly well-placed disdain for our current leadership and see this?

Dear state prosecutor, you are indicting Mr. Gaydamak for giving Beitar-Jerusalem season tickets to Olmert Bureau Chief, Shula Zaken but you forgot to add to the indictment the tremendous amounts of monies he had spent/given, to rescue the population of Northern Israel last summer during the war with Hizballah when the Israeli government was unable to do much to elevate their sufferings. When you talk about bribes, money laundering and such you better make sure you don't forget the above. You absolutely crack me up, in a country where everything runs on "VITAMIN P" you chose to actually pick on someome that shares his wealth with the less fortunate. Yes I expect you to claim that my kind of response were his motives in giving but you know what is being said about "looking a gift horse in his mouth".

...that he was running for office, that he'd be indicted. I was asked once "why don't I run for office, because I seem to know more than the politicians," and the answer is that politics here are so dangerous, and the ruling elite are so afraid of competition, that one takes his life into his own hands by facing that goal. These are sick, evil, dangerous people running our country. It is said that without the Torah, the jews would destroy the world.

If Israel is not interested in business people with real money, who can invest and make the country prosper, he should be able to have better use of his money somewhere else. Why not Dubai?

I would not be surprised if Guydamak is guilty of this, what billionare earns money with clean hands? But I have a strong feeling that the current political power, is just scared to have a Russian with a lot of popular support enter politics, so they will dig this up to stop him.

What a banana republic! Seasons Tickets!! Wow, Oslo led to exactly what was predicted, a terror state in the hear of Israel that has killed and crippled thousands in Israel. The Gaza expulsion led to the influx of thousands of soldiers and tons of weapons into Gaza, not to mention the hundreds of kassams shot into Israel, and Shalit's kidnapping and being held in Gaza. Yet, it is more important to investigate season tickets to a soccer team that to investigate how these disasters occured and to prevent them from being repeated.