“Over a year ago, when I was Minister of Finance, I told Attorney General Menachem (Meni) Mazuz that I wanted to fire Accountant General Dr. Yaron Zalika because of his subversive and improper conduct towards his colleagues,” revealed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today. He made the comment at the annual meeting of newspaper editors at Beit Sokolov in Tel Aviv to mark the November 29, 1947, UN resolution to partition Palestine.
Olmert said, “Mazuz showed understanding, but said that because we were about to launch an election campaign, the step ought to carried out after the elections. In the meantime, I had become a candidate for prime minister, and a different finance minister was appointed. I therefore thought it better that the appointed finance minister should deal with the matter. Now, Minister of Finance Abraham Hirchson has usurped Zalika’s authority. This usurpation of authority will make problem-solving easier.”
In response to a question, Olmert hinted that Zalika had asked State Comptroller and Ombudsman Micha Lindenstrauss to investigate alleged irregularities in the Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) tender after he realized that he was about to be fired.
Hirchson and Ministry of Finance director general Dr. Joseph Bachar reportedly secretly met Mazuz a few days ago to discuss the usurpation of Zalika’s authority in the matter of the Ministry of Finance’s relations with local authorities. They decided that Zalika should not be fired, partly because of the difficulty in defending this on legal grounds. On the other hand, under the Basic Law: Government, the minister of finance has the authority usurp the authority of the accountant general in specific matters.
The Ministry of Justice said in response, “The minister of finance and the ministry director general asked the attorney general about how to handle a number of disputes between the ministry’s management and the accountant general, including the granting of an exemption from a tender for a government contract with the Otzar Hashilton Hamekomi Ltd.
“Attorney General Menachem (Meni) Mazuz told them verbally that in the matter of the accountant general’s claim that the measure was illegal, the way to decide the matter was through an opinion by the ministry’s legal advisor, which would be binding on all parties at the ministry, including the accountant general.”
Mazuz said, “As a last alternative, and only to the extent that the accountant general does not act in accordance with a binding legal opinion, is the minister authorized to consider the need to usurp the authority in a specific matter, in order to safeguard the public interest.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on December 7, 2006
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2006