May.24, 2010, 01:57

Israeli-Russian businessman Arcadi Gaydamak and three other suspects in a money-laundering investigation are asking the Tel Aviv District Court judge assigned to their case to recuse himself from the impending trial because he might be swayed by evidence from a different trial.

Gaydamak, who has been living in Russia for the past 18 months, also asked the court not to require his presence for the indictment hearing, citing health reasons. He is seeking a gag order on his medical record.

Gaydamak is suspected of depositing $52 million from a company he owns in Kazakhstan, Kazakh Phosphates, into Bank Hapoalim's Hayarkon Street branch in Tel Aviv, without reporting it as required. The maximum punishment is 10 years in prison, but a High Court of Justice ruling that declared this sentence disproportionate makes it unlikely in Gaydamak's case.

Earlier this month, Haaretz reported that the prosecution is inclined to accept the police recommendation to indict Gaydamak and Nahum Galmor, who manages Gaydamak's affairs in Kazakhstan. The police suspect Galmor of acting as the nominal owner of Bank Hapoalim accounts that really served to launder Gaydamak's money.

Gaydamak, Galmor and two other suspects - Poalim Trust Services and one of its former executives, Shlomo Recht - have asked Tel Aviv District Court Judge Gilad Neuthal to consider whether he can fairly preside over their impending trial given that he might be swayed by evidence he has heard in a different criminal trial, in which Gaydamak is a witness for the prosecution.

That trial concerns graft charges against attorney Yaakov Weinroth and senior tax official Yehoshua Vita. Gaydamak is a former client of Weinroth's.

Several prosecution witnesses in the Weinroth-Vita trial have already testified about their estimates of Gaydamak's wealth and related matters. Yehuda Sheffer, former head of the Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority, and Yohanan Danino, former chief of the police's international crime squad, both testified that the sources of Gaydamak's wealth are still not entirely clear.

"It is inappropriate to put the honorable court to the test and create and uneasy feeling that different evidence, which is not meant to be on display, may create prejudice in the mind of the judge," Gaydamak and the other suspects wrote in their request. "Gaydamak has been raised time and again in the Weinroth case, in contexts that can be interpreted as negative."