It will be interesting to see if Israel turns him over to France to serve his sentence.

France: Gaydamak gets 6 years in jail

Israeli-Russian businessman and his partner, French businessman Pierre Falcone, sentenced in Paris to six years in prison for their involvement in arms sales worth $790 million to Angola in 1990s

AFP

Israeli-Russian businessman Arcadi Gaydamak and his partner, French businessman Pierre Falcone, were sentenced Tuesday in Paris to six years in prison for their role in Angolagate, a case of arms sales worth $790 million to Angola in the 1990s.

The huge arsenal - 420 tanks, 150,000 shells, 170,000 anti-personnel mines, 12 helicopters, six warships - shored up President Eduardo Dos Santos's regime during its vicious bush war against the UNITA rebels.

Gaydamak's lawyer said he would appeal his conviction in the affair and the six-year sentence handed down to him by the French court.

"Gaydamak was acquitted of half of the charges against him, and, despite this, was still sentenced to six years in prison. This is unfortunate. Of course, we intend to submit an appeal," said the lawyer.

Gaydamak's other lawyer, Attorney William Goldnagel, said that his client was "a victim of political and legal games." In statements made to Russian news agency Novosti, Goldnagel said that he intends to submit an appeal, but that he must consult first with Gaydamak.

Angola pushed to have the trial abandoned, while President Nicolas Sarkozy flew to Luanda in May 2008 to mend ties strained by the case.

Observers believed a harsh verdict could poison France's relations with Angola, where it hopes to develop massive oil contracts.

The arms sales began when Socialist president Francois Mitterrand was president in 1993 but continued until 1998, three years after conservative Jacques Chirac's election.

Mitterrand's son and former Africa advisor, Jean-Christophe, was sentenced to two years probation on charges of accepting millions of euros in "consultant fees" on the arms deals between 1993 and 1998.

Former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua was sentenced to one year in prison.

From October 2008 to March this year, judges struggled to make sense of a labyrinth of murky deals linking French politicians, businessmen and public figures and a massive arms shipment to a war-torn African country.

Prosecutors claim the shipment was in itself illegal, although the main defendants dispute this, and allege many millions of dollars were skimmed off the contract to pay bribes to senior French and Angolan figures.

But despite a promise to come and explain his role, Gaydamak has remained in Israel. He is said to have used his contacts in Eastern Europe to get his hands on the Soviet-designed weapons that were shipped to Luanda.

Falcone, who holds French, Canadian and Angolan citizenship, was named Angola's ambassador to the United Nations Paris-based cultural organisation UNESCO in 2003 and has claimed diplomatic immunity in the case.

Several defendants have insisted the trade was carried out in full view of French authorities but that Paris kept quiet to shore up a regional ally and protect an important source of oil.

Latest Update: 10.27.09, 20:10 / Israel News

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3796350,00.html