Prosecutors in Portugal have detained a rabbi and carried out a number of incursions over the naturalisation process of a number of Jewish people, including Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire owner of Chelsea football club.
Portugal’s Public Prosecution Service had on Friday disclosed that it has detained the leader of Porto’s Jewish community, Daniel Litvak, as part of their investigation into possible cases of ‘influence peddling, active corruption, falsification of documents, money laundering or even tax evasion’.
Local media has however reported that Litvak was arrested on late Thursday as he was preparing to travel to Israel.
He is scheduled to appear before a judge on Saturday who will decide what measures to impose on him.
Portuguese prosecutors had announced in January that they were investigating the naturalisation of Abramovich, who was granted Portuguese nationality in April 2021.
The owner of European champions Chelsea, who sit third in the English Premier League, benefited from a law passed by Portugal in 2013 allowing all descendants of Sephardic Jews, persecuted and expelled at the end of the 15th century, to obtain Portuguese nationality.
A certificate attesting to his descent was issued by the Jewish Community of the city of Porto in northern Portugal.
Meanwhile, attempts by Abramovich to sell his football club Chelsea was on Thursday cut short by the UK government following the freezing of all his assets in the UK.
Africa Today News, New York had earlier reported that Abramovich had put up the European champions for sale in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and as threats of sanctions were being speculated.
However, Thursday, the UK government ruled that Abramovich, who is one of the 10 Russian Oligarchs whose assets have been frozen, cannot sell the club.
The freezing of Abramovich’s assets, which include Chelsea, means the club cannot sell further match tickets.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK