Is Egypt part owner of the King David Hotel?

An Egyptian bank is suing to be announced as a shareholder in Jerusalem’s luxurious King David Hotel.

The bank, Banque Misr, submitted a lawsuit at the Jerusalem District Court through Isareli lawyers Ron Yeshayahu and Gil Makov demanding a declarative verdict against the Guardian of Absentee Property that would return to the bank the stocks in the hotel that were taken from it in the past, according to a report in Calcalist, an Israeli financial paper.

After the hotel opened in 1929, The Israel Land Hotels Company gave 1,000 shares to the Egyptian Zilka Bank. The Zilka Bank was merged with another bank when then Egyptian president Jamal Abdel Nasser nationalized all Egyptian banks. The Banque Misr, today still owned by the Egyptian government, was established as a result from the merger.

Banque Misr has 500 branches in Egypt and in other countries.

The King David Hotel, one of the most luxurious in the country and the place where visiting diplomats often choose to stay, was opened at the initiative of Egyptian businessmen. It was purchased by the Israeli Federman family and became part of its network of Dan hotels.

The fact that the hotel was once owned by Egyptians and that an Egyptian bank held stocks there evaporated from memory until in 2007, an Israeli-Arab lawyer, Ashraf Jasser, alerted the bank that it legally still had ownership of hotel shares.

The bank appointed Jasser to file a lawsuit on its behalf, but he ended up swindling the bank on the pretext that an Israeli court fee stood at NIS 10 million. After receiving the money, Jasser filed the lawsuit – paying the actual NIS 975 fee – and took the remainder of the money.

For this and other acts of fraud Jasser was convicted in the Haifa District Court two years ago and given nine years in prison and a fine to compensate the bank by the maximum sum allowed – NIS 258,000. He did not pay back the money.

The bank recently turned to the Jerusalem District Court in a request to renew the lawsuit. The state has yet to file its defense.