Gaydamak Court Action Against Leviev Dismissed by London Court

(IDEX Online) – London’s High Court of Justice has ruled that claims by Russian-Israeli businessman Arkady Gaydamak against his former business partner and diamond tycoon Lev Leviev should be dropped.

The case relates to a 2001 Angolan diamond-trade agreement that led to a dispute between the men.

Gaydamak says he played a key role in setting up a commercial body in Angola that would keep rebels away from the country’s diamond supply, thus preventing them from using rough stones to finance their actions.

Gaydamak claimed he asked Leviev, “another Israeli businessman of Russian extraction,” to hold his interest, according to the court case. Gaydamak and Leviev reached an agreement in 2001 provided for shared equal ownership rights over all assets and activities connected with the mining, distribution, and trade of diamonds that had occurred in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2000.

While hundreds of millions of dollars were sent by Leviev to Gaydamak until transfers stopped in 2005. In January 2011, Gaydamak took Leviev to court in London.

Gaydamak signed a release form with a senior Angolan general which stated that a dispute had arisen with Leviev and that the parties had agreed to terms for full and final settlements of the conflicts.

The agreement provided for the release of all claims between Leviev and Gaydamak, but contained no provision dealing with the payment or transfer of funds, according to reports.

After Leviev raised the 2011 release document in court, Gaydamak claimed that he had only signed it because the Angolan general allegedly fraudulently misrepresented the facts – leading Gaydamak to believe that if he signed, Leviev would compensate Gaydamak in exchange for surrendering his rights.

“General Kopelipa made it very clear that if I did not settle with Mr Leviev, the attitude of the Angolan authorities towards me would be very negative, but that if I did sign a settlement agreement, I could expect to receive the full cooperation of the Angolan authorities and administrative protection in the form of a diplomatic passport with a Presidential Administration mandate conferring diplomatic immunity," Gaydamak said, according to court documents.

A 2012 London court judgment found that the 2001 agreement had been valid, and Gaydamak lost the case. Gaydamak has failed to challenge the 2012 ruling on several occasions.

At this juncture, Gaydamak sought to launch a new case involving the 2011 agreement along with a new conspiracy claim.

The court found that Gadamyak had failed to defeat the conclusion that it would constitute abuse to allow the new proceedings to move forward as they raise issues that should have been raised during the first proceedings, rapsinews.com reported.