Bank of Israel to assist Heftsiba buyers

Chairman of the Economics Committee, Gilad Erdan called upon the court to extend the freezing of the process for at least a month to avert more chaos and so that the receiver could get more time to obtain all necessary information.

By SHARON WROBEL
The Supervisor of Banks, Rony Hizkiyahu, said on Monday the central bank will provide assistance to the majority of property purchasers of the collapsed Heftsiba project even if they did not have a bank guarantee. Speaking at the Knesset Economics Committee, Hizkiyahu said all purchases made through the banking system and transferred into the project's bank account would be taken care of. Hizkiyahu explained that the Heftsiba debacle was not a case of economic failure but a case of fraud and misappropriation and thus if funds had not been stolen, the company would not have collapsed and the project would have been completed. Chairman of the Economics Committee, Gilad Erdan called upon the court to extend the freezing of the process for at least a month to avert more chaos and so that the receiver could get more time to obtain all necessary information. Erdan welcomed Hizkiyahu's position but said it was not clear where the central bank stood on the issue of the banks' responsibility to make sure the purchaser in the project had received a guarantee.