Russian-born billionaire Arkady Gaidamak has been questioned by the Israeli police of the International Crimes Unit over allegations that he...

Russian-born billionaire Arkady Gaidamak has been questioned by the Israeli police of the International Crimes Unit over allegations that he laundered money at Bank Hapoalim in Tel Aviv. Mr Gaidamak said that police were persecuting him for no reason at all after being questioned about money laundering. At a press conference Mr Gaidamak said he is convinced the police would not have questioned him had he not been "of Russian origin, if I was not so called wealthy, if I was not the owner of very popular sports teams." Mr Gaidamak added that he was not charged with any offences. The Isreali police believe that a witness will be able to link the billionaire to suspicions of mishandling of his accounts in Bank Hapoalim, which have now been frozen under the Money Laundering Law. Mr Gaidamak holds several bank accounts at the Tel Aviv branch of Bank Hapoalim. According to Israel Radio, the police investigation has revealed that he had withdrawn large sums of money from these accounts shortly before police announced the investigation. This has led police to investigate whether Mr Gaidamak had received early warning on plans to raid the bank offices as part of the undercover investigation. Police arrested Mr Gaidamak at Ben-Gurion International Airport as he was preparing to leave the country for a short visit to Russia. Officers then took Mr Gaidamak to his home, where they conducted a search and confiscated several documents. Last March, police arrested dozens of employees of the Bank Hapoalim branch, in Israel’s largest ever money-laundering case, which involved hundreds of millions of dollars. Mr Gaidamak, one of the wealthiest people in Israel, owns the Betar Jerusalem football club and has recently announced he is to launch a new political party. He is a Soviet-born multi-billionaire who built a fortune around a world-wide technical translation business.