Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday sold his high-end apartment in the Akirov Towers in Tel Aviv, handing the property over to a relatively unknown businessman and admitting that his prior residence created a disconnect with the general public. The transaction occurred on the same day the government approved measures aimed at shoring up the availability of affordable housing units in keeping with the recommendations of the Trajtenberg Committee, a panel of experts appointed by the government to address the demands of social protesters last summer. The new owner of the apartment is Teddy Sagi, an Israeli businessman, who bought the apartment for NIS 26.5 million (about $7 million). His associates have confirmed the purchase. A source close to Barak told Israel Hayom on Sunday that contrary to reports in the Israeli media, Barak bought the apartment in Tzameret Towers, nicknamed after their real estate developer Alfred Akirov, in 2003 for NIS 16 million (about $4 million), not NIS 12 million (about $3 million). Barak himself addressed the transaction on his Facebook page on Sunday. My wife Nili [Priel] and I decided that we needed to sell the apartment, having realized that living in such a place left large segments of the public feeling disconnected and estranged from us; we are now going to move to a smaller apartment, one that is less expensive, he wrote. Barak went on to explain why he had bought the luxury apartment in the first place. After many years in public service and the IDF, and immediately upon leaving the post of prime minister in 2001, I opted to get involved in the private sector for the following six years, over the course of which I accumulated my wealth through hard work. During these years I was a law-abiding citizen, and was transparent in my businesses, putting everything out in the open for the authorities to see; needless to say that I paid my full share of taxes, as required. Over my time as a private citizen we bought the apartment at the Akirov Towers as a means of investment and as a place of residence. Sagi, 40, has made the lions share of his fortune through Playtech, a software company that provides technology solutions for online gaming sites. The companys IPO in the London Stock Exchange generated close to $1 billion in revenue. In the early 1990s Sagi was convicted, as part of a plea bargain, of engaging in illegal trading practices along with several others at Bank Discount. His worth is currently estimated at more than $1.5 billion. Barak and his wife plan to move into a smaller, but still luxurious apartment in the Assuta Bauhaus Village in central Tel Aviv. The complex, which is still under construction, stands on the grounds of the former Assuta Hospital. Their new property will be ready in about six months and costs significantly less than the a unit in Akirov Towers. It is also less than half the size of the previous apartment, spanning only 200 square meters (2,152 square feet). The Assuta Bauhaus Village, when completed, will be 26 stories tall. According to analysts in the real estate market, the new apartment might have cost anywhere between six to eight million shekels (about $1.5 million to $2 million).
