Alleged underworld kingpin Meir Abergil was brought into a bitter business dispute between the Ashkelon-based Globus International construction firm and the Ratzio Oil search company, Channel Two revealed on Tuesday.
The report was based on a petition by the head of the Globus International company, Shlomo Shukrun, to a Tel Aviv District Court this week, aimed at canceling a business arbitration with Razio Oil.
Global International has accused Razio Oil of bringing the underworld into an arbitration agreement to settle a business dispute.
According to the petition, the current arbitrator chosen to settle the dispute between the firms, attorney Assaf Baram, was appointed by Abergil, who is currently behind bars and awaiting a court decision on whether to extradite him to the US on money laundering and extortion charges.
For his part, the CEO of Razio Oil, Yigal Landau, told the court that he had been threatened repeatedly by underworld elements, claiming that alleged criminals who visited his home and threatened his children.
According to the Globes newspaper, Landau, together with joint Razio Oil CEO Ligad Rotlevy, had become local gas tycoons following a successful natural gas drill off Israel's coast after an 18-year search.