“If I weren't Russian, rich, and the owner of a popular soccer team, I wouldn’t have been interrogated.”
Businessman Arkady Gaydamak was questioned under caution today about the Bank Hapoalim (LSE: BKHD; TASE: POLI) money laundering affair at the offices of the Israel Police National Serious and International Crimes Unit.
Gaydamak was interrogated for ten hours yesterday, then released conditionally, and forbidden to leave Israel for a month. At a press conference several hours later, he claimed that he was being persecuted because of his origin.
”The police asked me to explain my business activity over the past year in Israel,” Gaydamak stated. “There are no suspicions or proof that I did anything improper. I’m convinced that, were I not from Russia, rich, and the owner of a popular soccer team, I almost certainly wouldn’t have been interrogated.”
Gaydamak cooperated with his interrogators yesterday, and answered their questions. He was questioned together with Nahum Galmor, accused of being his straw man. A police source said that it was too early to assess whether there were grounds for suspecting Gaydamak.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on November 29, 2005