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Israeli politician accused of connections with "Russian mafia"

Corruption scandals have become a common occurrence in Israeli political life. Therefore, no one was surprised that the prosecutor’s office resumed the investigation against the leader of the Russian-speaking party “Our Home is Israel” (NDI) Avigdor Lieberman (pictured) . Indeed, the day before, 48-year-old Lieberman, who came to Israel in 1978 from Chisinau, was appointed to the post of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Planning. And now he is again suspected of contacts with criminal structures in Russia in 1998 and illegal financing of the election campaign in Israel in 1999. “This case was remembered at the moment when it became known that Lieberman had received a significant post,” Sonya Vasilyeva, Avigdor Lieberman’s press secretary, told Vremya Novostey with indignation. “For eight years, while the investigation was going on, Lieberman was never “they were not summoned to the police for questioning. Neither the party nor Lieberman personally received any notifications from the prosecutor’s office over these years.”

Before the parliamentary elections in March 2006, the “Lieberman case” was dropped due to insufficient evidence. However, after the elections, during coalition negotiations, when it became known that Lieberman could take the post of Minister of Homeland Security, the investigation was resumed. Based on the materials presented by the prosecutor's office, the government's legal adviser ruled that Lieberman could not serve as Secretary of Homeland Security or Secretary of Justice due to suspicions of ties to the mafia and accepting bribes. Then they forgot about the accusations again, remembering them now. “Apparently, there are forces that do not want Lieberman to take part in decisions that are vital for the country,” Ms. Vasilyeva told VN.

The “Lieberman case” began back in 1998, and it is connected with a large Austrian bank (according to Israeli media, this is the Kreditenstalt bank), which was threatened with losses of hundreds of millions of dollars after the August default in Russia. The bank's management turned to Avigdor Lieberman, who then held an important post in the administration of the Israeli Prime Minister and had good connections in Russia. According to bank employees, Lieberman was paid a fee of $3 million for several days of work, during which there was a sharp jump in the ruble exchange rate, which saved the Austrian Bank from bankruptcy. Investigators from the Israeli police's anti-fraud department were checking Lieberman's connections with the so-called "Russian mafia", which, according to police suspicions, helped him conclude a multimillion-dollar deal with the Austrian Bank.

In 2000, the case was expanded into an investigation into the financing of the 1999 election campaign, when Lieberman's Israel Our Home party first ran for the Knesset. The investigation said that Lieberman received illegal financial support from foreign entrepreneurs immediately before the elections. In return, he allegedly lobbied for their interests in Israel.

This is far from the only scandal rocking Israel. On Monday, it became known that the Israeli Attorney General's Office is checking information about the receipt of bribes by 61-year-old Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during his tenure as finance minister in 2005. The prime minister is suspected of abuse of power during the sale of a controlling stake in the Israeli Bank Leumi. Prosecutor General Menahem Mazuz will decide in the coming days whether there are grounds to launch an official investigation. Olmert denies the accusations. Yesterday it was announced that the State Audit Office will soon publish a report on illegal funds possibly received by Deputy Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize laureate 83-year-old Shimon Peres during the internal party elections in the Labor party in the fall of 2005. 60-year-old Israeli President Moshe Katsav is also mired in scandals, albeit of a slightly different kind. At least ten women have accused him of sexual harassment in past years. Katsav claims that he has become a victim of slander.

Maria GRISHINA, Dmitry DUBOV, Jerusalem