Already struggling in England on the sidelines of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Roman Abramovich is also in the sights of Portuguese justice. The latter has indeed carried out several searches and arrested the rabbi of the Porto community as part of an investigation into the naturalization of descendants of Jews from which the Russian billionaire benefited. The investigation relates to facts “likely to constitute offenses of influence peddling, active corruption, falsification of documents, money laundering or even tax evasion”, specifies a press release from the public prosecutor’s office.
Daniel Litvak, chief rabbi of Porto, was arrested in Porto on Thursday as he was about to return to Israel, according to local media. He must be presented to a judge this Saturday, who will decide on the judicial control measures that will be applied to him. Justice had opened last January an investigation into the naturalization procedure of Roman Abramovich, owner of the London football club Chelsea, who obtained Portuguese nationality in April 2021.
Abramovich would have benefited from a false certificate
The Russian billionaire had benefited from a law allowing all descendants of Sephardic Jews, persecuted and expelled at the end of the 15th century, to obtain Portuguese nationality. Under this law, the Jewish communities of Porto or Lisbon had to provide a certificate attesting to Jewish ancestry.
However, officials of these communities are suspected of having issued false certificates on the Jewish ancestry of several candidates, indicates in a press release the Israelite community of Porto which refutes these accusations. It also specifies that this investigation targets other naturalization procedures such as that of Patrick Drahi, owner and founder of the telecom and media group Altice.
Since the reparations law came into force seven years ago, more than 137,000 nationality applications have been filed. Portugal has granted citizenship to more than 56,000 descendants of Sephardic Jews, according to figures recalled by the Israelite community of Porto.
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