With the revelation of the Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) affair, everyone asked what happened to the company's internal auditor. The job of an auditor in a public company is to examine the conduct of the company and its institutions, and to report to the company's audit committee. Sources inform "Globes" that Bezeq internal auditor Lior Segal contacted the audit committee of the Bezeq board of directors and proposed writing an audit report on the actions of the company's institutions in the Bezeq-DBS Satellite Services (1998) Ltd. (YES) deal. The chairman of Bezeq's audit committee is Mordechai Keret, and its members are the same directors who handled on the company's behalf the purchase of Yes shares from Bezeq controlling shareholder Shaul Elovitch.
Sources inform "Globes" that Keret rejected outright Segal's request for a thorough probe into the company's actions in the deal. Sources close to the audit committee claim that Keret's initial response to Segal was harsh and dismissive. An internal auditor in a public company needs the audit committee's approval in order to carry out his work. His power is derived from the audit committee, and without its backing, he is in effect unable to function. Segal was not the only one whose efforts were thwarted. Bezeq legal advisor Amir Nachlieli was also excluded from discussions about the Bezeq-Yes deal, and he has also been criticized for doing nothing to oppose it.
As reported in "Globes," another board of directors watchdog has been severely criticized for not doing his job, and was involved in altering minutes and ignoring information brought to his attention about the leaking of information from Bezeq to Yes in the middle of negotiations, but a court order has been issued barring the publication of his name.
Bezeq declined to comment on the report.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on August 17, 2017
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