Two weeks ago, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, former Mossad director Meir Dagan, and former IDF chief of staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Dan Halutz set up a new company, EOC Partners Ltd. for an unknown purpose. The company's executives include Olmert's communications director Yanki Galanti, and Adv. Benny Sheffer.
Olmert and Halutz declined to respond to questions from "Globes" about the company's purpose or why it was founded. Galanti said that Olmert is a private individual, and he declined to comment on the report.
According to the Israeli Corporations Authority, EOC Partners was registered in early March and it operates out of Olmert's offices in the Platinum Tower on Ha'arbaa Street in Tel Aviv. It is authorized to "engage in all legal business", a wording that has no limits on the company's business and does not require its partners to disclose them. The Corporations Authority also states that Olmert owns 46% of EOC Partners through Sino-Israel International Ltd. Halutz, a partner in HDBS Enterprises Ltd. with Ofer Dekel and Benny Sheffer, owns 40% of EOC, and Dagan owns 14% through NDN Investments Ltd.
The common denominator of Olmert, Halutz, and Dagan is the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Olmert was prime minister at the time, Halutz was the IDF chief of staff, and Dagan was head of the Mossad. In 2008, Olmert extended Dagan's term at the Mossad and appointed him head of the forum to politically frustrate Iran's nuclear program.
Olmert went into business after he resigned as prime minister. In April 2009, he founded Ehud Olmert Consultancy Services Ltd. In January 2010, it was reported that he was appointed chairman of the Livnat Group, owned by Zvi Livnat, which owns Taavura Holdings Ltd., real estate, and other businesses.
Halutz and Dekel, who were responsible for prisoner of war negotiations, owned with Yuval Rabin, the son of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Onida Ltd. which sought to promote Israeli exporters in Nigeria and to upgrade military equipment. In the past few years, Rabin has also worked as a lobbyist for several Eastern European and African countries. Dagan is on the lecture circuit after recovering from cancer, and in one speech, he mentioned his excellent relations with Olmert.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 16, 2014
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