Ministry of Communications director general Shlomo Filber, who is suspected of a reporting violation, deception, breach of trust, and fraud in the Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) affair, will be barred from the Ministry of Communications for another month, until October 22, the Tel Aviv Magistrates Court ruled today.
In her ruling, Judge Ronit Poznanski-Katz wrote, "The material shown to me (by the Israel Securities Authority, C.M.) indicates that Filber was involved in a large number of activities giving rise to suspicion of a crime." The judge said that the additional materials today reinforced a reasonable suspicion against Filber.
At the same time, the judge added that she was taking Filber's important job into account, and was therefore not granting the Securities Authority's petition to bar Filber from the Ministry of Communications for five weeks.
Filber has been suspended from his position since August 6, 2017, when he was first questioned under caution. He is barred from initiating direct and indirect contact with employees of the Ministry of Communications, Bezeq, the Ministry of Justice, DBS Satellite Services (1998) Ltd. (YES), and Spacecom Satellite Communications Ltd. (TASE:SCC). Filber has also posted NIS 400,000 in bail.
During today's hearing on the terms of barring Filber from the Ministry of Communications, Securities Authority representative Advocate Eran Shacham-Shavit said that Filber had erased files on his cellphone.
Filber is mainly suspected of promoting the business interests of Bezeq and its controlling shareholder, Shaul Elovitch, at the expense of the public interest.
The Securities Authority filed a consensual petition to the court asking that Bezeq company secretary Advocate Linor Yochelman, another suspect in the affair, be allowed for the first time to speak with legal advisors at Pelephone Communications Ltd. and Bezeq International Ltd., and with Bezeq CFO Yali Rothenberg.
Other restrictions, however, will continue to apply to Rothenberg. For example, she is barred from the offices of Spacecom, Yes, and the Ministry of Communications, and from making direct or indirect contact with any employees of these companies, until November 1.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on September 25, 2017
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