Irish tycoon denies ‘indecent proposal’
Brian Maccaba, who was born a Catholic in Dublin and later became a Jew, made his fortune from Cognotech, an international technology company he founded in Dublin in the 1980s.
The 45-year-old married father-of-six told a jury such an offer had never been made to teacher Alain Attar for his wife Nathalie.
Mr Maccaba told a jury on the third day of his slander action in London that although he and Mrs Attar had become "too close" emotionally and that she had at one stage told him she was "in love" with him there had never been any sexual relationship, or any "indecent proposal".
His QC, Clive Freedman, asked him: "Did you at any time make an offer to Mr Attar that if he would give his wife to you, you would give him a million dollars?"
He replied: "Definitely not."
Counsel: "Was there ever any offer of cash for a woman?"
Mr Maccaba: "Never, never, no."
He is seeking damages against Dayan Yaakov Lichtenstein, whom he accuses of spreading "poisonous" allegations within the orthodox community in early 2001 that he was a "sexual predator" and a "serial adulterer" who chased after young married Jewish women.
Rabbi Lichtenstein, the senior judge in the Beth Din, or rabbinical court, of the Federation of Synagogues, hotly disputes slandering Mr Maccaba, of Hendon, north London.
In the film, Indecent Proposal, Robert Redford plays a wealthy bachelor who offers a poor newly married couple, played by Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson, one million dollars if he can spend one night with his wife.
Mr Maccaba, who was born a Catholic and converted to Judaism in 1990, told the jury that one of the things he and Mrs Attar had in common was a love of poetry.
One of the poems, written in June 1999, entitled Knocking on Heaven's Door, made reference to "one million dollars cash".
Mr Maccaba said it was not a reference to any proposal: "Absolutely not. It is just a poem. I did not intend to make any offer and neither she or Alain understood it as an offer."
Mr Maccaba told the jury that in August 1999 Nathalie told him she was thinking of divorcing Alain: "She told me she was in love with me."
It happened, he said, when they were both in Jerusalem.
Mr Maccaba said he and Nathalie became "much too close" emotionally and by May or June 1999 it became clear that "it should end".
He said: "It may sound strange but I was on very good terms with her husband throughout this period and he knew we exchanged poetry."
In May 1999 he and Alain Attar went on holiday to Morocco with other male friends and had a "great time". They had an "extremely good" relationship.
The following month he had given Nathalie two poems, including Knocking on Heaven's Door, which he had written about the end of their "inappropriate" emotional relationship.
Part of the theme of those poems, he said, was "let's be sister and brother", but to recognise that the emotional relationship had gone too far. It was not true that he had sought to have physical contact with her on two occasions in 1998-99.
He denied that he had attempted to kiss her on the lips, attempted to touch her breast or "come on to her".
Mr Maccaba said he was "stunned" when he found out that "completely untrue" allegations had been made about him committing adultery with three married Jewish women.
