Roman Abramovich
Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s $2.2 million donation to the Israeli non-profit organization ZAKA must now be returned after Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s Mizrahi Tefahot Bank cannot transfer the funds from his account due to international sanctions against him. A lower court had previously ruled the funds could be transferred since it was a charitable donation and the recipient should not be penalized along with Roman Abramovich.
In its ruling, the court accepted the bank’s argument that it could not transfer the funds because “any attempt to whitewash this or to turn a blind eye because ZAKA really needs the money is doomed to failure.”
Bank Mizrahi Tefahot said that it refused to accept the transfer of the funds because the European Court of Justice rejected Roman Abramovich’s appeal of the freezing of his assets made as part of sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. But ZAKA said it needed the funding and argued that the importance of its work should take precedence over the bank’s concerns about the sanctions, especially since it is an Israeli bank operating in Israel with an Israeli organization – not an international transaction.
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In its suit against the bank, ZAKA argued, “The issue at hand, stemming from circumstances beyond our control, is the bank’s unreasonable refusal to allow an urgently needed donation to the ZAKA organization, both to prevent organizational collapse and to assist volunteers coping with the difficult mental aftermath of the war.”
According to Israel’s business publication Globes, in its ruling, the court stated “Without detracting in the least from the importance of ZAKA’s work, the respondents (ZAKA) have not demonstrated that not transferring at this stage will irreversibly harm this work.”
The European Union and the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on Roman Abramovich in the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine due to his connections to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
ZAKA is an Israeli non-governmental rescue and recovery organization that operates after terrorist attacks like the one on October 7. ZAKA also performs a Jewish religious obligation – the collecting of all human remains from someone who was killed, including blood, for burial in accordance with Jewish Law. This was an especially difficult and gruesome task in the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas massacre in which many people were mutilated.
Roman Abramovich is a Russian oligarch and politician with a complex history. He is the primary owner of the investment firm Millhouse LLC and formerly owned Chelsea F.C., a famous English football club, but was forced to divest himself of ownership in the team due to the sanctions. He amassed his wealth in the 1990s through Russia’s privatization programs.
Abramovich served as governor of Chukotka, a remote region in Russia, from 2000 to 2008 and has Russian, Israeli and Portuguese citizenship.
Roman Abramovich’s rise to wealth and his connections to Russian leadership have been scrutinized. He has also been sanctioned by several countries, including the UK and EU, due to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
