Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) board of directors candidate Ziyyad Abu-Habla, who was not elected at the general meeting, has asked Supervisor of Banks David Zaken to annul the appointments of directors on the grounds that the vote "was not based on professional considerations." He claims that the financial institutions "believe in the white man", and cited the infamous "Ashkenazi bank" speech by former Excellence Investments Ltd. (TASE: EXCE) chief economist Shlomo Maoz.
"The current rulers at Bank Leumi are financial institutions, which believe in being white as expressed by Shlomo Maoz," said Abu Habla in his letter to Zaken. "The election of directors by the institutions did not reflect professional considerations, and everything related to me was based on ethnic considerations."
Abu Habla, an accountant, has an MA in Political Science and an MBA from Tel Aviv University's international program. He is currently a research graduate student for a Ph.D. He has over ten year's experience at leading firms, including Kesselman & Kesselman pwc Israel and Ernst & Young Israel Kost Forer Gabbay and Kaiserer. He was the only Arab among the nine nominee directors at Bank Leumi.
"This was my first opportunity to be a candidate at such a high level, facing parties at the level of financial institutions' customers and the government. I did not know what was permitted me and what was forbidden, so I was cautious throughout the process," stated Abu Habla. He added, "My candidacy was disqualified at the outset on the basis of nationality to ensure that the members would come from their own club. As an Arab, I was not given an equal opportunity with the other candidates, and I should have had a preferential opportunity from the candidates on the basis of fair representation for the Arab community."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 8, 2012
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012