Arcadi Gaydamak

Arcadi Gaydamak during a press conference

Arcadi Alexandrovich Gaydamak (also spelled Arkadi Gaydamak, Russian: Аркадий Александрович Гайдамак, Hebrew: ארקדי גאידמק‎) (born 1952 in Moscow, USSR) is a Russian-Israeli billionaire businessman, and member of the wealthy Gaydamak family. Gaydamak holds French and Israeli passports in addition to Canadian and Angolan passports. He travels in the capacity of a representative of the government of Angola in order to circumvent warrants for his arrest. His son Alexandre Gaydamak is also a businessman and owner of Portsmouth F.C. in England. In February 2007 he announced the establishment of his own Israeli social movement, Social Justice,^[1] which became a political party in July 2007.^[2]

Biography

Arcadi Gaydamak was born in 1952 in Moscow, the capital of the former USSR. At the age of 20, Gaydamak was one of the first Jews to emigrate to Israel from Leonid Brezhnev's Soviet Union. He enlisted in the military, and was drafted to the Israeli Navy. He left Israel some six months later, making his way towards France. He lived in France until the age of 48, occasionally visiting his country of birth, Russia. He currently resides in Israel, where he owns three homes, and travels frequently to Russia and the United States.

Career

In 1973 Gaydamak left Israel and settled in France. Lacking an academic education, he began his early career working as gardener and a bricklayer. In 1976, Gaydamak opened a translation bureau near Paris, servicing Russian commercial delegations visiting France, and made contacts at a number of French companies. By 1982, Gaydamak Translations was a highly successful business, and he opened a branch in Canada. During that period he began pursuing a more lucrative business path in importing and exporting. He used his ties in the Soviet Union to further his business and sequentially formed various business organizations across Europe. Gaydamak wealth is estimated at £4 billion.

In Paris he was awarded with several honorary rewards from the French government.

Angolagate

Gaydamak spent many years in France, but fled the country when an international arrest warrant was issued for him in connection with Angolagate, an arms-dealing scandal. He is wanted on two charges; illegal arms dealing with Angola, and tax evasion. In order to avoid arrest while traveling Gaydamak now travels using an Angolan diplomatic passport.^[3][4]

Sport clubs and media ownership

In July 10 2005 he announced his entry into the sports business and became the sponsor of the Hapoel Jerusalem basketball team. About a month later he decided to donate $400,000 to the Arab-Israeli Ikhud Bnei Sakhnin football club. On the same day Gaydamak also announced the purchase of 55% of the ownership of Beitar Jerusalem, and two days later he announced the acquisition of full ownership of the team. Gaydamak is the patron of several Jewish charities, and is president of the Congress of Jewish Religious Communities and Organizations of Russia, (KEROOR), Russia's oldest religious Jewish umbrella group.

In March 2006 he announced his offer to buy the French newspaper France Soir via his company Moscow News.^[5] He had purchased the Russian Moskovskie Novosti newspaper in 2004.

Donations

Gaydamak has donated to many Israeli organizations, of which many are charity and have religious characteristics. He has donated to Magen David Adom, Hatzolah and many others.

Gaydamak also attempted to donate $50 million to the Jewish Agency for Israel and in return become a board member, but as a result of a leak that the Israeli police warned the Jewish Agency not to receive the donation, he has delayed it. A few days later Gaydamak was interrogated over money laundering.^[6][7]

During the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict Gaydamak constructed a tent-village on the beach of Nitzanim, that hosted thousands of families who fled the rocket ridden North and had otherwise no place and means to go to. Gaydamak's contributions totaled $15 million (about $500,000 a day) and earned him considerable praise among some Israelis, though they were viewed by others as a populist act, perhaps related to the French extradition demand issued against him. In November 2006, he funded a one-week long vacation in Eilat for hundreds of Sderot residents, who have been under constant Palestinian rocket attack for the past two years.^[8].

Politics

On February 20, 2007 Gaydamak announced he would found a party based solely on socio-economic issues. The next day he announced its name, Social Justice ^[1].

Although Gaydamak has said the organisation will initially be established as a social movement, he noted that it could become a political party at any time, "based on the circumstances." He has stated the movement does not seek ultimate power for itself, but will run in tandem with Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud, hoping to pick up votes from former Likud members alienated by Netanyahu's financial policies. It has been suggested that the party will eventually merge into Likud.

Gaydamak believes the party could win 25 seats in the next elections. However, he apparently does not wish to take a seat in the Knesset, preferring to remain as Party Chairman outside the parliament in a role similar to that of Shas's spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.

In April 2007 Gaydamak announced his intention to run for Mayor of Jerusalem.

Former Israeli government speechwriter Gregory Levey reported in October 2007 that Gaydamak "is now at the center of a right-wing political alliance -- featuring Israeli über-hawk Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu -- that could dramatically influence the country's direction. If the rising alliance takes power in the next election, it could push Israel toward military confrontations with Iran, Syria or Hezbollah, while extinguishing any remaining flickers of hope in Israel's peace camp regarding the Palestinians."^[9]

See also

• Silvio Berlusconi

References

External links

• Corpwatch on "Angolagate"
• Billionaire Gaydamak says he'll run for mayor of Jerusalem -- Haaretz (April 2007)
• (French) Press clippings on Arcadi Gaydamak

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