Lev on the lam - finds a"decent Home" in Haringey Highgate

Haringey planning council member Bob Hare personally oversaw the development of a new build Highgate mansion , called Palladio which was created by property developer Mansour Namaki for his family says the Ham & High Gazette.

Mansour tells me he has now sold this £32 Mn. ersatz Palladian mansion designed by architect (now retired) William Bertram, (7 bed.12 bath.) replete with colonaded swimming pool replete with gold plated tiles (pic) , 6 person lift, his and hers RR Phantom garages and bomb proof entrance doors - behind which lies an entry hall modelled on the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles. (If you fancy a similiar property contact William Bertram & Fell, 5 Gay Street, Bath, restoration specialists)

After all 'Decent Homes by 2010 Programme' was a key election pledge in Haringey Labour's 2006 manifesto and is a key concern for Bob Hare's pal Hornsey and Wood Green MP Lynne Featherstone - who recently tabled a tabled a Parliamentary Question demanding a timetable for the delivery of Decent Homes money: "This money is not about penthouse upgrades, but the very basic housing standard that every family in the borough has been promised and deserves. Every moment of delay is another moment where thousands of people locally are sentenced to another night of substandard accommodation." (Although the in house poolside "nightclub" area , an essentail component in such sensitively handled restoration properties, might get rather noisy filled with Olga's and her children's friends and admirers)

Lynne was at it again yesterday badgering Iain Wright (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government about "when Haringey council and Homes for Haringey will be given their full funding under the Decent Homes Programme" ... (Hansard)

Within comfortable walking distance to Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue in Norrice Lea, with Golders Green and Finchley synagogues Lev's new pad has near neighbours including (in Bishop's Avenue) steelman, Lakshmi Mittal, Express mogul , pornographer and housewive's friend, Richard Desmond, (see pic) and his very close 'frend from the North(London)" ex jail bird Gerald and the glamorous, pert , former model, Dame Gail Ronson - who was she was honoured in her own right by the Queen in 2002, for charitable services, especially to Jewish Care (Lord Levy of Nu Labour Fundraising's favourite) and the Royal Opera House.

The lucky (?) buyer of this monstrous pile is Uzbeki, Tashkent born, Lubavicher Lev Leviev,51, diamond polisher and competitor to de Beers, (with a luxury jewelry store on Old Bond Street,London)property mogul who variously controls Africa Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE: AFIL) an international holding and investment company based in Israel he bought from Bank Leumi for US$400 and variously stated to be worth anywhere between US$4 Bn and US$7 Bn.

He told Haartez when he was at Davos in February this year ..

"I have had diamond factories in China for many years. I am planning real estate and infrastructure projects there through Africa Israel. Large investments do not frighten me, but one needs reasonable security for the investment."

"We are doing not too badly in Eastern Europe. We have investments worth over $1 billion. This is not enough for the Eastern European market. I expect large capital gains in the next five years, mainly in real estate, throughout Eastern European - the Baltic States, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania.

As the Africa Israel share price has slid this year (and more this week) Leviev's reason for moving from israel to London has been avidly scrutinised in the Israeli press .. most intriguing are the claims that former Ministry of Finance State Revenue Administration director Shuki Vita, his deputy, and certain tax officials violated procedures in handling the tax files of three men.

Leviev has been mentioned in the same breath as crime lord, drug dealer, Tel Aviv bomber and murderer Zeev Rosenstein ( who cannot leave Israel as he got 12 years in the US for drug smuggling being currently served in Israel - with no asssets seized) and Russian born colourful tycoon Arcadi Gaydamak - whose son Alexandre owns Portsmouth FC. Gaydamak is of course Ambassador at large for Angola - a country with which he shares an interest with diamond dealer Lev - he gained primary control of the country’s rough-diamond supply in 2000.