State Attorney closes case against Hapoalim chair

"Insufficient evidence" to indict Bank Hapoalim chairman Zion Kenan for fraud.

By JOANNA PARASZCZUK
business loan_311 (photo credit: Thinkstock/Imagebank)
business loan_311
(photo credit: Thinkstock/Imagebank)
Deputy State Attorney Shai Nitzan has decided to close a fraud case against Bank Hapoalim chairman Zion Kenan for lack of evidence, the State Attorney’s Office announced on Tuesday.
The decision came a year after an investigation was first opened regarding Kenan, who was suspected of fraud, fraudulent receipt and breach of trust in relation to a Bank Hapoalim credit application made by the bank’s former chairman, Dan Dankner.
RELATED:Suspect's remand extended for Shai Nitzan video In September 2011, the State Attorney’s Office announced its intention to indict Dankner for bribery, corruption, fraud and breach of trust in a corporation, money laundering and harming proper banking practices.
Police suspected that Kenan had lied to members of the bank stakeholders’ committee during an October 2008 meeting regarding the loan request by Dankner. At the time, Kenan was manager of Bank Hapoalim’s Corporate Division.
During that meeting, Kenan said he had in his possession a report that Dankner had sent him regarding the latter’s financial situation. However, it was suspected that Kenan had not yet actually received the report.
According to the State Attorney’s Office, police also suspected that neither Kenan nor his subordinates carried out an analysis of the report into Dankner’s financial situation when they allegedly received it following the October 2008 meeting, and that the report had not been signed by an accountant or a lawyer.
Nitzan said that after examining the evidence, he found that the case lacked material needed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Kenan had lied to the Bank Hapoalim committee members or establish a causal link between the alleged lies and the committee’s decision to approve the Dankner loan.
While the criminal case against Kenan has been closed, the Banking Supervision Department at the Bank of Israel will now examine the evidence and decide whether administrative regulations were violated when Kenan’s appointment as chairman of Bank Hapoalim was approved.