The Parliamentary Inquiry Committee for the Location and Restitution of Assets of Holocaust Victims believes that 4,500 bank accounts of victims have not yet been claimed by their heirs. The Custodian General holds almost all the accounts, with only a few still at the banks.
The report of the committee, chaired by MK Colette Avital (Labor), is now almost completed, with only insubstantial wording left to be finalized. The consultancy committee, headed by Adv. Zvi Barak, has completed its work and submitted its recommendations to the Inquiry Committee. The recommendations will be the basis for the Inquiry Committee's report and proposed legislation.
The report is due to accept Bank Leumi's (TASE:LUMI) main claim that it no longer holds any accounts of Holocaust victims. Bank Leumi claims that the bank accounts of Jews from Germany, its allies, and occupied countries, were transferred to the British Mandate Custodian of Enemy Property, under Mandatory law.
Half of the 4,500 bank accounts located by the Inquiry Committee were originally opened at Bank Leumi (then called Anglo-Palestine Bank), and the others at Barclay's Bank (NYSE:BCS; LSE:BARC) branches in Israel (now Mercantile Discount Bank), United Mizrahi Bank (TASE:MZRH) and other banks.
However, the Inquiry Committee wants to impose part of the financial responsibility on the banks, because the committee decided that banks should pay the difference on the accounts for the period between the opening of the accounts and their transfer to the British Mandate Custodian of Enemy Property.
The Inquiry Committee will recommend that any heirs of the account-holders, if found, should receive the accounts' deposits, plus linkage and 4% annual interest. On the basis of this formula, the aggregate real value of the 4,500 accounts is several hundred million shekels, of which the state will have to pay an estimated 55-60%. The Inquiry Committee was told that the heirs to most of the accounts could be found, since the Custodian General's files supposed to include the pertinent information.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on November 28, 2004