From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Ex-finance minister Kahlon expected to be charged with securities fraud
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Former finance minister Moshe Kahlon is set to be indicted, pending a hearing, on charges of fraud and reporting offenses related to the Securities Law, along with several other senior executives of the Unet Credit company.
Kahlon served as chairman of the board of Unet Credit, a credit company, between June 2021 and June 2022.
According to the State Attorney’s Office, some NIS 5 million ($1.3 million) was embezzled from Unet Credit’s Nazareth branch while irregularities were found regarding other funds in the branch.
The company’s compliance officer Yoav Tsabar allegedly uncovered these problems in late 2020, which were also known to the company owners, but were hidden from the board and the public.
The State Attorney’s Office alleges that Tsabar delayed reporting his findings to Kahlon until the beginning of 2022, and Kahlon instructed him not to disclose the findings to the board “out of a concern of harming the company’s credit rating.”
Tsabar is also facing an indictment on the same charges as Kahlon, pending a hearing.
In a separate case against the controlling owners of Unet Credit, Tzahi Ezer, Shlomo Isaac and Shai Penso, they are suspected of illegally allocating two million shares of Unet Credit, a public company, worth some NIS 50 million ($13 million), to a private company owned by the three controlling owners and two advisers.
Kahlon served as a Likud MK and minister for 10 years, before splitting with the party and forming his Kulanu party and serving as finance minister for five years from 2015 to 2020.
