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Politics : Middle East Politics -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GUSTAVE JAEGER who wrote (4249)	9/4/2003 5:24:22 PM
From: Elmer Flugum	Respond to of 6945

More on Isra'Eli Financing forbes.com "Trumping De Beers, Leviev has become very rich. He owns 100% of his diamond business, Lev Leviev Group, and a controlling stake in Africa Israel Investments. The latter is a Yehud, Israel-based conglomerate whose holdings include: commercial real estate in Prague and London; Gottex, a swimwear company; 1,700 Fina gas stations in the Southwest U.S.; 173 7-Elevens in New Mexico and Texas; a 33% stake in Cross Israel Highway, that nation's first toll road; and an 85% share of Vash Telecanal, Israel's Russian-language TV channel. Leviev also owns a gold mine in Kazakhstan, pieces of two diamond mines in Angola and mining licenses in the Urals and Namibia. He's probably worth $2 billion." "Whatever he was up to during the Yeltsin years, he kept a low profile. Leviev avoided being identified with the "Family," a group of newly hatched tycoons who tried to convert their economic influence into political power. A smart move, because when Putin became president, he marginalized some Family members, like Boris Berezovsky. Leviev had kept close ties with Putin, brokering meetings for the first time between the new Russian president and prominent Israeli politicos." "Blood diamonds became a p.r. migraine for De Beers. In 1998 the United Nations slapped sanctions on the buying of Angolan diamonds from the rebels; a widely circulated report by Global Witness singled out De Beers for "operat[ing] with an extraordinary lack of accountability." Under pressure, the Syndicate closed its buying offices inAngola and the war-pocked Democratic Republic of Congo, while continuing to explore in Angola. Leviev had already made a mark in Angola in 1996 when he came through with a $60 million investment, in exchange for 16% of Angola's largest diamond mine, after the government took it back from the rebels. Alrosa, a partner, couldn't come up with the cash. "Dos Santos said I was the only one who helped his country," says Leviev, who guarded his mines with former Israeli intelligence agents. (He and the president bonded, says a report from the Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group, the Center for Public Integrity, over their knowledge of Russian and mutual loathing of De Beers.) Leviev also offered to generate more state revenues and promised to cut down on illegal exports. To sweeten the pot, he gave the Angolan government a 51% share of Angola Selling Corp., or Ascorp, the exclusive buyer of Angolan rough diamonds. (Industry insiders whisper that Isabella Dos Santos, the president's daughter, has a separate stake in Ascorp. Leviev says he knows nothing of it.) There's more to the story than Leviev cares to discuss. A friend of his, Arcady Gaydamak, an alleged arms dealer with Israeli and Russian citizenship, was an adviser to Dos Santos. According to the Center for Public Integrity, in the mid 1990s Gaydamak (wanted in France for illegal arms trafficking) negotiated a forgiveness of Angolan debt to Russia, in exchange for arms. In January 2000, a month after Leviev's Ascorp was awarded the exclusive on Angola's diamonds, Gaydamak bought 15% of Leviev's Africa Israel Investments. Within a year Leviev bought back Gaydamak's stake. A quid pro quo? "He offered to sell me the shares at a good price," says Leviev. "This was a time before Mr. Gaydamak had legal problems." While the two are no longer business associates, they remain chums."