The Israel Securities Authority last week questioned Israel Financial Levers Ltd. (TASE:LVR) controlling shareholders Jackie Ben-Zaken and Eitan Eldar on suspicion of influencing the company's share price through fictitious deals in order to get it listed on the Tel Aviv 100 Index.
The two men were under house arrest since last Wednesday, until their release today.
Financial Levers announced the questioning in a notice to the TASE this morning, adding that Securities Authority investigators raided the company's offices and seized documents. The share price fell 6.3% after trading was resumed at 10:49 am to NIS 0.768, giving a market cap of NIS 860 million.
Financial Levers was included in the Tel Aviv 100 Index at the last update on December 31, 2010, in part because its market cap exceeded NIS 1 billion. The Securities Authority suspects that Ben Zaken asked Eldar, a friend and longstanding investor in the company, to place large buy and sell orders in the shares in the weeks leading up to the index update to keep the share price, to enable the company's inclusion on the index.
Financial Levers is a real estate company that has diversified into offshore oil and gas leases.
Ben-Zaken's spokesman said in response, "Since the issue is under investigation by the Securities Authority, we cannot disclose details. Jackie Ben-Zaken is fully cooperating with the investigation, and he believes that when it is completed, it will be shown that he acted legally."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 17, 2011
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