David Appel very much wanted to set up a huge complex on the island of Patroclus, near Athens, but he needed connections in the Greek government. He also wanted to buy land beside Moshav Ginaton, but here again he needed connections. Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert were the key. David Appel is a successful property developer. Like his parents before him, he has always been closely connected to the Likud party.
He was indicted in the past on charges of fraudulent receiving in connection with a building project in Kfar Sava, and found innocent. Because of his connections in government, he has been in the police’s sights. In the Greek island affair, the police tapped his telephone calls for two years. His attorney says that some 80,000 calls involving Appel and his family were tapped. On this matter, Appel recently hired the services of US lawyer Alan Dershowitz.
The Greek island plan was a huge project that Appel planned for the island of Patroclus, near Athens. The plan was for a hotel, entertainment, and gambling complex. It was going to cost $450 million. Appel’s partner in this grandiose scheme was Norman Shkolnick, an arms dealer with connections in high places in Greece. Since the island partly belonged to the church, many building permits were required. To obtain these, Appel needed connections in the top echelons of the Greek government.
According to the police, at Appel’s instigation and financed by him, a Greek delegation came to Israel in January 1999. The delegation was organized in cooperation with senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials. It included the Greek deputy foreign minister, and the director general of his ministry. Appel hosted the delegation at a dinner in his Tel Baruch house. This dinner was attended by, among others, Ariel Sharon, then minister of foreign affairs and minister of national infrastructures, Sharon’s son Gilad, Avigdor Lieberman, Moshe Leon, and Shkolnick.
In a conversation that took place a few days after the dinner, on the subject of the Likud central committee, Sharon told Appel that he was in need of assistance. Appel told Sharon that he would set up for him a staff of 30-40 people to help him in the internal Likud elections to determine the party’s list for the Knesset elections.
According to the police findings, Appel also promised Ehud Olmert help in standing for head of the Likud party. For his part, Olmert, as mayor of Jerusalem, hosted the mayor of Athens, and Appel financed a lunch Olmert gave for his Athenian opposite number.
In May 1999, Ehud Barak won the prime-ministerial election, and Sharon became an opposition member of the Knesset. Shortly afterwards, the contract between Gilad Sharon and the Sharons’ Sycamore Farm on the one hand and David Appel on the other came into force. The contract related to consultancy services to Appel. It was signed only in May 2000, but was made retroactive to June 1999.
In the end, the Greek island project never went ahead. Gilad Sharon, however, received $400,000 as a consultancy fee. Appel told the police that he employed other consultants at similar rates of pay.
In the original indictment, Appel and the Migdalei Hazohar company he manages were charged with bribing public servants. The indictment says they gave bribes totaling NIS 1.4 million to former Lod mayor Benny Regev in return for Regev’s looking after Appel’s interests in the Ganei Aviv neighborhood in Lod.
Appel also needed Regev in connection with the Moshav Ginaton deal, exposed by “Globes”, in which he bought 1,500 dunam (375 acres). Migdalei Hazohar sought to have the Ginaton lands annexed to Lod, and their zoning changed from agricultural to residential. Appel and the company provided financial and other assistance to Regev’s campaign for a second term of office in Lod.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on January 21, 2004