MK Limor Livnat (Likud) has called on Attorney General Menachem (Meni) Mazuz to prevent the firing of Accountant General Dr. Yaron Zelekha. She says, “Zelekha is the gatekeeper of proper administration. He has turned the job of accountant general into a position with teeth and works courageously and honestly as the public’s shield.”
Livnat also called on Zelekha to use every legal means to continue to serve the public “loyally in his post”.
Knesset State Control Committee chairman MK Zvulon Orlev (National Union-National Religious Party) has announced that he will ask State Comptroller and Ombudsman Micha Lindenstrauss to block the firing of Zelekha and to give him protection as a whistleblower. “The message implied in the announcement of Zelekha’s firing is an attempt to harm the struggle against corruption, especially at a time when severe government corruption is being revealed and investigations are underway against the country’s leaders, one of which was initiated following disclosure by Zelekha,” he said.
MK Sheli Yacimovich (Labor) has also come out in support of Zelekha. She expressed puzzlement that he was being terminated at this time. “The announcement on the termination of his work at this time is serious, because Zelekha is a key witness in the Bank Leumi affair, in which heavy suspicion has been raised that the former minister of industry and the current prime minister tried to manipulate the tender in favor of his associates,” she said.
On Wednesday evening, two months after taking office, Minister of Finance Ronnie Bar-On informed Zelekha at a meeting that when his contract ends on October 17 it would not be renewed. Zelekha believes that he has, in effect, been fired by Bar-On.
A spokesperson for Bar-On said that personal issues would not be discussed in the media while he was in office, but confirmed that the meeting took place and that Bar-On did not fire Zelekha, but simply informed him that his contract would not be renewed.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on August 30, 2007
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2007