The Israel Land Authority (ILA) affair is widening. Sources inform "Globes" that Israel Police is investigating suspicions that former National Religious Party MK Adv. Nachum Langental, a former partner of ILA director Benzi Lieberman, intervened with ILA on behalf of Israel Salt Industries. The Dankner family used the value of land owned by Israel Salt in its acquisition of Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI), later sold to Shari Arison.
The affair of Israel Salt's land has been batted around by ILA since 1996, in the courts as a byproduct of the alleged bribery in the Holyland Hotel affair, and by the State Comptroller and the ILA Council. It involves the attempt to treat land in Atlit and Eilat as zoned for residential construction, rather than industry and agriculture. The suspicion currently under investigation is that Langental intervened with Lieberman to have the land in Atlit and Eilat, or at least a large part of it, recognized as eligible for residential construction, on which Israel Salt would have made hundreds of millions of shekels in profits.
Israel Salt said in response that Langental was part of the company's legal team acting on the company's behalf in the matter of the land in Atlit and Eilat in contacts with the ILA legal department, and that Langental had acted in this matter together with former ILA legal advisor Adv. Rachel Zaccai-Neuman and other lawyers. Israel Salt's efforts were unavailing, and the police have not investigated the company in this matter.
The Israel Police National Fraud Unit interrogated Lieberman for 10 hours last Thursday, and he was released to house arrest for five days. He is suspected of committing fraud and breach of trust, including help in extending the lease rights of Kardan NV (TASE: KRNV;AEX:KARD) in Kardan House in Tel Aviv, promoting the company's residential development project in Lod, and assisting Israel Salt (controlled by Shari Arison). Lieberman denies the suspicions , and his associates told the media that all his decisions were made transparently and with the public interest in mind.
Langenthal is also under house arrest for five days. Currently an executive at Kardan NV, he denies all the allegations against him. The police have no suspicions of Kardan NV itself.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 18, 2015
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015