The expected lawsuit is in response to a suit in the same amount filed against Kesselman and Kesselman - PricewaterhouseCoopers Israel by Trade Bank's special manager,
Hebrew daily “Yediot Ahronot” cites banking sources as saying that Kesselman and Kesselman - PricewaterhouseCoopers Israel is expected to sue the Bank of Israel for $50 million over the embezzlement at Trade Bank. The expected lawsuit is in response to a suit in the same amount filed against Kesselman by Trade Bank's special managers.
The banking sources said that Kesselman's lawsuit would be similar to the one submitted over the embezzlement at Britain's BCCI. BCCI's auditors were sued and ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for negligence at BCCI. The auditors simultaneously sued the Bank of England for compensation for neglect. The case is still being heard.
Trade Bank collapsed following a huge NIS 250 million embezzlement by bank official Esther (Etti) Alon, which was discovered in April 2002. Alon will probably be questioned soon by Trade Bank's special managers about her part in the affair.
Alon claims she was tricked, and in her appeal is demanding that the findings of the investigators of the Trade Bank management, Barlev & Co. Accountants and Adv. Uri Bergman, be revealed. The investigators are now focusing on the role of Trade Bank's CEO and chairman in granted unsecured credit and in the bank's faulty management practices, which were not audited.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on February 9, 2004