Tel Aviv District Court Judge Eitan Orenstein has provided Eliezer Fishman, the banks and the Tax Authority with breathing space to reach an arrangement regarding the division of Fishman's debts. This morning, the judge rejected the Tax Authority's request to appoint a temporary receiver for Fishman's assets.
Orenstein said that the hearing on the receivership request will be held on September 29 and recommended that Fishman and the banks try and reach a debt arrangement by then, while taking all relevant details into account. The judge added that the parties must inform him by September 22 if they manage to reach an arrangement.
As he implied during yesterday's hearing, Orenstein rejected the request made by Fishman and his attorneys to turn the procedure over to arbitration led by Judge (ret.) Varda Alshech. Orenstein said that there is no point in an arbitration aimed at reaching a creditors' arrangement: "The respondent's interest to work together with the creditors to find a appropriate realization of Fishman's assets - both in terms of the timing and the type of assets, and considering their nature - does not require an arbitration process, in the absence of any actual disagreements between the parties. As mentioned, an arrangement can be formulated without arbitration, in talks between the parties."
The judge added that arbitration requires the consent of all parties, and cannot be realized without it (the Tax Authority opposes arbitration, while the banks do not - C.M.). Therefore, Orenestein concludes, "I saw no reason to subject the Tax Authority to an unwanted arbitration, not only because this is unnecessary according to Attorney General directives, but because of the actual case in question."
Eliezer Fishman is the controlling shareholder in "Globes."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 6, 2016
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