Israel Police investigators probing the diamond smuggling case involving family members and employees of Russian-Israeli diamond billionaire and philanthropist Lev Leviev, are now weighing a possible extradition order against him. On Monday, persons in his inner circle indicated he does not plan to come to Israel to be questioned by authorities, Yediot Achronot reports.

It is also reported that the suspects are facing money laundering charges of NIS 300 million or more for the diamonds they allegedly smuggled into Israel. This exceeds initial estimates in the case. It is also confirmed that one of the six suspects is Zevulun Leviev, a son of the diamond magnate in the case referred to by investigators as the ‘Black Diamond’.

YWN-Israel reported that police on Monday, 27 Marcheshvan, arrested six suspects in the case, including family members of Leviev. According to the report in Yediot, police have already obtained an order permitting them to confiscate Leviev’s property, as well as a warrant for his arrest in case Leviev returns to Israel. In the first stage, the police will try to carry out an investigation abroad.

A spokesperson for the LLD Company said, “the company is unfamiliar with the reported incident in the media. Mr. Leviev and the companies under his control act in accordance with the proper norms, while adhering to the law. We hope this matter will be clarified soon and the suspicions will prove to be baseless”.

Chadashot News added “All the evidence leads to Leviev, who is the main beneficiary of the fraud. Some of the property seized belongs to him. Leviev was not in Israel for if he was, he would have been arrested and questioned”.

On the other hand, sources close to Leviev said, “He does not intend to come to Israel. If the police wish to question him, they will have to travel abroad”.

Police said: “We will try to reach him and move ahead with the investigation together with the Russians as it is also in their interest”.

The court extended the detention of the suspects, including Lev Leviev’s relatives. In his decision, the judge wrote: “I was presented with documents linking the suspects to the alleged crimes. Some play a or less senior role and there are those who are more deeply involved, and those who we are less suspicious of, and there is a reasonable suspicion regarding each of the suspects”.

The affair was revealed on Monday morning when six suspects were arrested following a covert investigation that took months. The arrests were made in connection to the huge diamond smuggling operations, in which diamonds were smuggled into Israel to avoid paying relevant taxes.

The investigation revealed that a worker at one of Lev Leviev’s factories in Russia smuggled a large quantity of diamonds worth millions of shekels to Israel when he arrived six years ago as a ‘returning resident’. The diamonds apparently originated in Africa, then moved to Russia and then smuggled into Israel. Another remand hearing was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon in the Rishon L’Tzion Magistrate’s Court.

It is suspected that the diamonds were sold in Israel without being reported to the tax authorities. In a raid conducted by the detectives of the Israel Police Major Crimes Unit on his home, hundreds of diamond-related shipping documents were found. It is reported that Zevulun Leviev is cooperating fully with investigators in the case.

One of the issues that had police puzzled is how such a large quantity of diamonds was smuggled into the country and then sold more or less like all other diamonds. This led to the fact that an employee came back to Israel under the ‘returning resident’ status, and that employee allegedly hid diamonds in suitcases.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)