Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz were unaware of the appointment of Doron Weiss as chairman of Israel Railways by Minister of Transport Yisrael Katz, replacing acting part-time chairman Ori Yogev, who was supposed to receive the job on a permanent basis. The appointment has opened a rift between Steinitz and Katz.
A Ministry of Finance spokesman officially told "Globes" in response, "Doron Weiss is not a candidate for the post of Israel Railways chairman."
Steinitz has to countersign Katz's approval of the appointment.
Weiss was appointed a director at Israel Railways a few months ago, after serving as deputy director of the Israel Security Agency. In private conversations, Katz said that he decided on the appointment, after being very impressed by the new security plan Weiss proposed for Israel Railways, which will save it NIS 30 million.
The Ministry of Finance said that there was an initial impression of a huge difference between Weiss and Yogev's professional capabilities, experience, and knowledge about Israel Railways and its operations.
Yogev, a former economic adviser to Netanyahu, is considered very close to him. Yogev's relations with Katz have been poor ever since the labor dispute at Israel Railways, and Katz refused to appoint Yogev as the permanent chairman after the civil service appointments committee cleared him for the job in November 2011.
Katz brought Yogev to Israel Railways with Netanyahu's blessing at the height of the company's worst crises. Israel Railways had been without a CEO and chairman for months, after the appointment of a CEO was held up, and former chairman Yaakov Efrati was forced to resign.
Yogev, a train aficianado, is considered to be the most knowledgeable chairman the company has ever had. When he was Budget Director, he was a leading figure in the establishment of the company (splitting from the then Ports and Railways Authority), and guaranteed the huge budgets for railway development. Israel Railways, the Government Companies Authority, and the Ministry of Finance consider him a strategic asset for the railroads. He is considered the moving spirit behind the building of lines, business development, the establishment of subsidiaries, and the introduction of high-speed Internet on trains.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 2, 2012
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