Last week, a serious indictment was filed against Israeli American citizen Gal Luft, who was arrested in Cyprus at the demand of the United States in March, fled in April and recently posted a video in which he laid out his version of events, claiming that the prosecution against him was intended to silence his testimony about the US president's and his family's ties to China.
Luft is accused of failing to register as an agent of a foreign country (China), arms trafficking, violating sanctions against Iran, and making a false statement to federal agents.
The indictment describes how he recruited a former U.S. administration official and paid him to promote policies favorable to China, including when that official was an adviser to the president-elect in 2016.
The defendant also allegedly mediated, without a license, arms deals of Chinese entities and individuals with Libya, Kenya, Qatar and others.
Finally, Luft is accused of brokering deals to sell Iranian oil despite sanctions and concealing his sources, and of lying when asked about it during interrogation.
According to the indictment, Loft, who was the director of the World Security Research Institute in Washington, was in contact with CEFC China Energy of China and its research institute in the United States. In 2015, CEFC made contacts with then-presidential candidate Joe Biden. Loft claims that the Biden family had an FBI mole that leaked information to the CEFC, that the president's brother and son Hunter received millions of dollars from the company, and that while he was vice president, Biden met with CEFC officials alongside Hunter.
Loft's case will be clarified in court, and the implications for U.S. politics will be known later, but pay attention to the CEFC and its modus operandi: the company was among China's ten largest companies in 2014, and in a special interview, its chairman, Ye Jianming, said that the company "aims to serve the strategy of the country (China)." Over the past decade, it has worked vigorously in the international arena, combining business activity and political influence with the employment of senior and former officials and the promotion of capital-government ties. Several sources point to links between the company's chairman and influential Chinese military bodies, which he denied.
Patrick Ho, Hong Kong's former interior minister, was head of the CEFC research institute in Virginia and allegedly worked with a loft. In 2017, Ho was arrested, convicted in the US of bribery and money laundering and jailed for several years. In 2018, Ye Jianming disappeared, apparently after being called in for a corruption investigation in China, and the CEFC collapsed. This story also has a connection to Israel.
Patrick Ho has visited Israel more than once, and has participated twice in the Prime Minister's conferences on fuel alternatives and smart mobility and other conferences, alongside senior government and economic officials, alongside Loft and senior officials from the research institute. In 2015, a meeting between the Georgian prime minister and CEFC officials was published, which was also attended by Michael Mirilashvili and representatives of LR Group from Israel. In 2017, the chairman of the CEFC came to Israel to receive the "Darling of the Jewish People" award from Keren Hayesod, which was headed at the time by Modi Zandberg, a close associate of Prime Minister Netanyahu, who was convicted of breach of trust in the submarine affair. The awarding of the prize to the chairman of the CEFC was puzzling at the time, in light of his lack of previous background in Keren Hayesod work, except for a donation of $<> million.
The affair relates to political and legal battles in the United States and branches into various areas, including the Chinese government's global influence efforts, as revealed by the CEFC's activities. Although the company no longer exists, Israel should exhaust its examination of the activities of its senior executives and their contacts in Israel, and to be vigilant regarding similar patterns of activity in Israel by other entities, even today. Israel's conduct in this area will have direct implications for its national security, and for its vital relations with its strategic ally, the United States, indirectly.
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