ISRAEL: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Pres conference by Russian Billionarie Arkay Gaydamak, defends his reputation and says his son Alexandre is buying half of English football club Portsmouth with his own money

Record ID: 278094

  • Title: ISRAEL: SOCCER / FOOTBALL - Pres conference by Russian Billionarie Arkay Gaydamak, defends his reputation and says his son Alexandre is buying half of English football club Portsmouth with his own money
  • Date: 5th January 2006
  • Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (JANUARY 4, 2006) (REUTERS) WIDE OF DOZENS OF ISRAELIS DEMONSTRATE IN SUPPORT OF RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRE ARKADY GAYDAMAK, IN FRONT OF BUILDING WHERE HE HOLDS A NEWS CONFERENCE CLOSE OF SUPPORTERS CHANTING MORE OF DEMONSTRATORS GAYDAMAK SEATING AT TABLE AHEAD OF NEWS CONFERENCE WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) GAYDAMAK SAYING: "I know that I never
  • Embargoed: 20th January 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA33C5YZ8HYAQ2GDCK5K98YDM5T
  • Story Text: Billionaire Arkady Gaydamak, who was grilled by Israeli police with connection to money laundering, said on Wednesday (January 4) that his reputation was slandered by too eager journalists.
    Gaydamak was greeted by scores of demonstrators who chanted slogans supporting him when he arrived at the news conference.
    "I know that I never did something wrong and it is no jurisdiction in the world that present me any claims and I was never judged for something wrong," he told reporters in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv.
    "There are many competitors in business, in social life, there are many dishonest representatives for the newspaper, television and radio, for the sensation they can do what they want and for many years I am a target of all these dishonest practice," he added.
    Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said Gaydamak, who leaped to fame in Israel last year by buying the Betar Jerusalem soccer club, was questioned by investigators probing suspected money laundering in Bank Hapoalim <POLI.TA>, the country's largest bank.
    Gaydamak said that he had received assurances from police that a story published in the daily Maariv on Wednesday which alleged they had warned the a quasi-governmental body not to receive a $50 million donation from him because it might be tainted, was not their doing, but the work of a business rival.
    Gaydamak said he was very happy to answer all the police questions and had all the evidence to prove his innocence. Israel Radio put the scale of the suspected money laundering at $50 million.
    Since purchasing Betar for a sum which he described as "several millions of dozens of shekels" Gaydamak, an international businessman who has been active in areas ranging from banking to agriculture and mining, has become one of the most talked-about men in Israel.
    Earlier this week, English Premier League club Portsmouth said his son was to become joint owner of the club. Businessman Alexandre Gaydamak put up a reported 15 million pounds ($26.33 million) to buy half of Portsmouth from owner Milan Mandaric.
    Arkady Gaydamak told Israel's Haaretz newspaper on Tuesday that his 30-year-old son paid for half of Portsmouth with his own money and without consulting him.
    France issued an international warrant for Gaydamak's arrest in 2000 after he failed to show up before an examining magistrate to respond to charges related to arms trafficking. He denied wrongdoing, saying evidence in the case was falsified.
    Hapoalim was hit by the scandal in early 2005 when police said they were investigating suspected money laundering at a Tel Aviv branch and at the Bank Hapoalim Trust Company. A number of employees and customers were arrested while accounts were frozen.
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