French Businessman Behind ‘Fraud of Century’ Donated $1mn to Netanyahu

By Al Ahed Staff, Agencies

Businessman Arnaud Mimran, an associate of “Israeli” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was recorded saying that he had financed vacations for the prime minister and his wife, buying him expensive watches and meals, as well as transferring large amounts of money, including one million euros. A report just released by the French website Mediapart was based on recordings of Mimran from the prison in which he is serving time for fraud, as well as for abducting a rival businessman. He is also suspected of ordering a triple murder. Netanyahu has denied Mimran’s statements.

The connection between Netanyahu and Mimran was exposed in 2016, in a joint investigative report by the “Israeli” newspaper Haaretz and Mediapart. During his trial, Mimran mentioned the one million euros he was referring to in the recordings that were revealed on Sunday. Netanyahu denied receiving this amount. He later admitted to receiving $40,000 from Mimran while he was a private citizen, in 2001. On Monday night, sources close to Netanyahu said that “only ‘Israeli’ media could quote such delusional lies by a convicted criminal who is in prison, only in order to harm Prime Minister Netanyahu.”

Mimran is serving two overlapping sentences: one is a 13-year sentence for abduction, unlawful confinement and the extortion of a Swiss-Turkish businessman. The second is an 8-year sentence for his involvement in evading paying taxes to the European Union, a crime labeled in France “the fraud of the century”. He is also suspected of ordering the murder of three people involved in the transaction, including his former father-in-law. He denied any involvement in the murders. The recordings were made as part of the murder investigation, in 2019 and in 2020, and included details not reported before.

On July 17, 2020, Mimran described how he used Netanyahu, including when he was a public office holder, hosting many meals in order to further his business and show off his network connections. “When I had to work with someone, I’d invite him for a meal with Netanyahu. I organized dinner in Monaco every day, and each time I invited the person I wanted to further my business with. All the finance people, the Jews I wanted to work with – bingo. They saw me at my best.”

“When he was with me in Paris, I took him wherever I wanted. He did whatever I wanted. When he received money and everything, that was it, it was a done deal. There were no limits anymore. You could ask anything of him.” He noted exact sums he had given Netanyahu - sometimes 10,000 euros, sometimes 20,000, depending on the occasion. “He knew he was going to get those bills. Whatever it was, he’d always say yes.”

A month later, on August 20, Mimran again said that he’d given Netanyahu “a million,” through a Georgian businessman, Badri Patarkatsishvili, who died in 2008. “I told Bibi: I’ve found the person who will finance you.” He didn’t mention when and how the money was transferred, but elaborated: “Netanyahu asked for $50,000. He paid for his vacation, saying it was a good one, and that none of the money remained.” In 2022, Mimran’s friend testified before an investigative judge in France about the nature of the relations between Mimran and Patarkatsishvili, saying that the Georgian was “one of the Russians Mimran spent time with. Mimran dreamed of living with gangsters,” he said.

In a report from March 2022, the investigative team wrote that in a conversation recorded in November 2020, “Mimran explained that he had a powerful network which included Meyer Habib [a French member of parliament] and Netanyahu. He bragged about having succeeded, through this network, in sabotaging deals made by one of his enemies in France, deals connected to ‘Israel’”. According to the investigators, he said that “he wouldn’t hesitate to use the services of serious gangsters in order to put pressure on his enemies.”

Mimran enumerated to his girlfriend a list of places in which he had financed visits by Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu. These included Saint Tropez, Miami, the town of Deauville in France, Monaco, the ski resort of Courchevel in France and the Plaza Athenee Hotel in Paris, where the couple stayed when they were not at Mimran’s apartment on Boulevard Victor Hugo, in the 16th arrondissement. “I paid for everything; he didn’t pay,” said Mimran.

Mimran said that on one occasion, he had to cover expenses amounting to 2,600 euros at the Plaza Athenee, due to the numerous breakfasts the couple racked up during their 3-day stay.

“She [Sara] was crazy about orange juice. In the morning, for example, she drank orange juice, and then ordered another glass, but as a full breakfast, not just juice. She didn’t care at all.” He also referred to Netanyahu’s fondness for a fish offered at Brasserie Fouquet’s in Paris, for cigars and for Panerai luxury watches. “I bought one watch for myself. He liked it, so I bought one for him as well. He liked getting presents; politicians like free deals.”

Mimran also talked a lot about Habib, who was also close to Netanyahu. In 2019, he said in a recorded conversation that “well-known people are afraid of being connected,” mentioning the name Habib. “He plays at being surprised,” complained Mimran. “At some point, he wanted to dissociate himself from me.” He also said that “for over 20 years I helped him make money, and now he is acting haughty. I got him elected to parliament; I financed everything for him.” Regarding the “fraud of the century,” in which he and his accomplices stole 283 million Euros by concealing revenues from value-added tax collected as part of trading in carbon dioxide emission permits, Mimran said that “Haviv wanted to claim that he wasn’t aware of the deal. He was frightened, but he knew. I told him everything.”

Habib said in 2016 that he regretted introducing Mimran to Netanyahu. According to Mimran, after the investigative report was published by Haaretz and Medipart, Habib warned him that he might hurt Netanyahu. “He told me, ‘Arnaud, be careful they don’t manipulate you. You may not be doing anything deliberately, but you are hurting Netanyahu.’ I told him: ‘Do you think that if I wanted to hurt Netanyahu or you, I wouldn’t have the means to do so? Are you testing me?’” He added: “they made me very angry. I would never hurt Bibi. I won’t harm a friend for the sake of my interests, that would be the beginning of the end. You can trust me.”

Haviv refused to answer questions by Mediapart and denied the things attributed to him by Mimran. He said that Mimran is “a prisoner in distress, accused of murder, and who knows what he heard.” When asked in March 2021, as part of the murder investigation, Mimran said that “we [Haviv and Mimran] had a friendly relationship. He is attractive, intelligent and skilled, very brilliant.”