Four Cellcom senior executives are refusing to take the polygraph test ordered by incoming president and CEO Dr. Yitzhak Peterburg.
The four are VP and legal advisor Adv. Michal Bleich, VP Regulation Dr. Amit Schejter, CTO Lipa Ogman, and VP Nimrod Ben Tov.
Peterburg does not expect Oren Most, still officially VP marketing, to take the test. Most, who will officially leave the company on February 28, is not cooperating with Peterburg.
Gozlan-Barzilai will administer the polygraph test. The executives will be hooked up to polygraph wires, and their honesty tested on two questions: whether they leaked confidential information after January 1, and whether they know of anyone who leaked the information.
In other words, not only is the executives’ honesty being questioned; they are also being asked to inform on their fellow executives.
As far as is known, Peterburg does not plan at this stage to fire any of these undergoing the test. Even if some of those examined do not pass the test with flying colors, Cellcom plans to sit with them, and explain what is now being expected of them, as dictated by Peterburg from now on.
Sources close to Cellcom say that Peterburg is convinced that even the four executives refusing to undergo the test will eventually take it. In any case, Peterburg has no legal right to fire the executives for refusing to take the test. If he fires one of them, he is liable to encounter new problems. None of the lawyers in Cellcom management are taking the test.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on February 18, 2003