The Government Companies Authority has cancelled the sale of Ashot Ashkelon Industries Ltd. (TASE: ASHO) to a consortium led by Avraham Burg, which won the privatization tender. A hearing will be held for the consortium.
Burg’s attorney, Adv. Eli Zohar said in response, “We’ll weigh our next steps.” He said that, as far as the consortium was aware, the reason for the cancellation was the government’s wish to sell Ashot Ashkelon together with Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI). “If that is the case, we may bid for IMI,” he added.
Burg’s win in the tender was delayed because of a review by the State Comptroller and an Israeli Police investigation into suspicions that he was a straw-man for Ian Nigel Davis and Aviv Algor. Davis and Algor have been indicted in a securities case, on charges of fraudulently obtaining the approval of Middle East Tube Ltd. (METCO) (TASE: TUBE) shareholders for a NIS 250,000 monthly management fee. The two men control the company.
The prosecutor closed the file against Burg for lack of evidence.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on March 22, 2007
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