Developer and the Western Wall

Can European Jewish Congress (EJC) President Vyacheslav Kantor prevent Sergei Polonsky from obtaining Israeli citizenship?

Developer Sergei Polonsky, apparently, was found in Tel Aviv. On Tuesday, June 18, the Russian-language Israeli TV channel Ninth reported: “Our broadcaster has received video footage that allegedly depicts Sergei Polonsky, a Russian businessman who has been charged with fraud. A criminal case is also being conducted against him in Cambodia, where he should be, as he gave a written undertaking not to leave. What is the infamous oligarch doing in Israel?” On the same evening, Russian federal TV channels also picked up the news.

And on Wednesday, Polonsky’s lawyer Diana Tatosova answered a question from Israeli journalists: “We have already completed the collection of the necessary documents for applying to the Israeli Ministry of Internal Affairs to grant Polonsky a second citizenship,” Tatosova told ITAR-TASS and stressed: “The documents can be sent as early as next week ".

Meanwhile, in May, Tatosova, together with fellow lawyer Alexander Dobrovinsky (who also represents Polonsky), managed to convince the Ostankinsky District Court of Moscow that their client could not leave Cambodia and come to court to testify. Polonsky is a victim in a criminal case, and banker Alexander Lebedev is accused of beating him and hooliganism motivated by political hatred.

At the end of May, State Duma deputy Alexei Chepa, under whose personal guarantee Sergei Polonsky was released from prison in the seaside city of Sihanoukville, told Novaya Gazeta that "Polonsky escaped." Aleksey Chepa is undoubtedly an informed person, because he is not only a deputy, but also a member of the Russia-Cambodia intergovernmental commission. But the lawyers continued to insist that their client could not "leave the territory of Cambodia."

Diana Tatosova stood her ground last Friday, when Polonsky was charged in absentia with stealing more than three billion rubles collected from equity holders of the Kutuzovskaya Mile residential complex. The head of the Investigative Department for Investigation of Organized Crime and Corruption of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Mikhail Aleksandrov, told reporters: “Considering that he did not arrive at the Investigation Department, in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, he will be put on the federal wanted list, after which, if his whereabouts are not established, Russia for a certain period, he will be put on the international wanted list through Interpol" ( details - in "New" No. 64 of June 17, 2013 ). On the day of filing a charge in absentia of fraud, Tatosova stated:

- My client is in Cambodia on bail, and he can only come to Russia with the permission of the authorities of this country.

And three days later, the same Tatosova went on the offensive, accusing all of Russia of inaction: “When Polonsky was in prison in Cambodia, Russia showed complete passivity and did nothing to help him.” And now, after being charged with fraud, according to Tatosova, "we have real reason to fear that Polonsky's personal safety and his business are in real danger." That is why Polonsky allegedly intends to seek Israeli citizenship. Because Israel does not extradite its citizens to other states, no matter what crimes they are accused of.

The promotion of the topic of the threat of "personal security" will undoubtedly contribute to Polonsky's obtaining Israeli citizenship. But the president of the European Jewish Congress (EJC), businessman Vyacheslav Kantor, can also influence the adoption of a negative decision on the application for Israeli citizenship. On Wednesday, Kantor flew to Moscow (in particular, he visited the Moscow Stud Farm No. 1, which belongs to him). According to our information, an initiative group of Kutuzovskaya Mile shareholders is taking action to meet with the President of the European Jewish Congress and ask him to "assistance in the return of Sergei Polonsky to Russia."