In a press release the direction of the Israeli Community of Porto (CIP)/CJP announced that it had decided that “it is no longer interested in collaborating with the State in the certification of Sephardic Jews”, also recalling a proposal made between 2013 and 2014 to the government for the creation of an international commission for this mission.

The note also criticises the investigation into the certification processes for granting Portuguese nationality under the Nationality Law for Sephardic Jews, namely the naturalisation of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, with the CIP/CJP declaring that it “received from Roman Abramovich the value of €250 and nothing more”.

For the CIP/CJP, the investigation by the Judiciary Police (PJ) and the Public Ministry (MP) is based “fundamentally on unlikely anonymous complaints”. The institution also regrets that the members of the board “have been searched for contacts with conservatories that they never had, for embezzlement that are impossible to carry out in this organization and for being alleged co-responsible for the certification activity of the chief rabbi”.

Arrests

Rabbi Daniel Litvak was not “judicially prevented from continuing the Sephardic certification processes”, according to the institution, which highlighted him as a “religious authority recognized by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel” and with the necessary competences for the certification function.

“Being a Jew is a genealogy, something that no one seems to understand in Portugal”, can be read in the published text, which guarantees that the Jewish organization in Porto will continue to develop in “all its statuary dimensions”, with focus on the areas of religion, philanthropy, culture and combating anti-Semitism.

Abramovich investigation

The investigation into the Abramovich case, which led to the arrest of the religious leader of the CIP/CJP, Rabbi Daniel Litvak, involved carrying out searches and involves suspicions of various crimes, namely influence peddling, active corruption, document forgery, money laundering, qualified tax fraud and criminal association, indicated the PJ and the MP in a joint statement.

According to the management of the CIP/CJP, one of its members was also indicted for the crimes of influence peddling, tax fraud, money laundering and forgery of documents.

In question are alleged irregularities committed in processes of granting Portuguese nationality to descendants of Sephardic Jews, which are under investigation. Sephardic Jews are Jews from the Iberian Peninsula expelled from Portugal in the 16th century.

In parallel, the Institute of Registries and Notaries (IRN) also announced at the end of January the opening of an inquiry on this matter.