The State Prosecutor today filed an indictment with the Tel Aviv District Court against Dan Dankner for crimes allegedly committed when he was chairman of Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI). He is charged with aggravated fraud, fraud and breach of trust, money laundering, and harming the proper management of a banking corporation.
The indictment lists four charges. The first charge states that Dankner acted in a material conflict of interests when he did not report his business ties with Elran Investments Ltd., controlled by two of his cousins, which had a large stake in RP Capital. Bank Hapoalim paid RP Capital $25 million for handling the negotiations for Bank Hapoalim's acquisition of Turkey's BankPozitif.
The second charge states that Dankner fraudulently received a €5 million loan from DHB Bank (Nederland) NV, which is owned by BankPozitif's Turkish owners, on the basis of a false statement that he had €50 million in personal assets. Dankner allegedly concealed this loan, which he received in exchange for benefits obtained for BankPozitif's Turkish owners, from Bank Hapoalim executives and directors.
The third charge says that Dankner fraudulently received $3.4 million in credit from Bank Hapoalim, which he claimed was for building properties, but which was actually mostly used to buy Elran bonds. He submitted a false capital statement to Bank Hapoalim in order to obtain the credit.
The fourth charge says that Dankner used an account at Bank Hapoalim opened by his secretary for various purposes, including hundreds of thousands of shekels in deposits and withdrawals, without notifying the bank that he managed the account. He is charged with money laundering in this case.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 28, 2012
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012