After the external examiner, Yoram Danziger, hired by the audit committee of the board of directors of Clal Insurance Company, found that "his conduct was flawed" even though he "applied independent judgment", and amid dissatisfaction expressed by the board at his actions, the company's chairman Dan Naveh announced yesterday evening that he would leave the group by the end of this year. This, he explained, was because the head of the Capital Markets, Insurance and Savings Authority, Moshe Bareket, would not allow him to hold a discussion on replacing the company's CEO, Yoram Naveh, within the foreseeable future, until he had come to a decision on the matter, despite the fact that in his (Dan Naveh's) view the CEO ought to be replaced soon.
Clal Insurance Company is a unit of Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd. (TASE: CLIS).
Sources close to Bareket said that he needed more time to study the circumstances and that he was not blocking or rejecting any move. In any event, they stressed, it was up to the Clal Insurance Company audit committee to deal with the question of removing the CEO, not the chairman.
"I do not intend to renew my term at the coming shareholders' meetings of the companies," Dan Naveh said. "Six weeks, on May 4, 2020, I sought to convene a meeting of the board of directors to discuss replacing the CEO, and I was prevented from doing so. Even now, after the Danziger report has been submitted, I am prevented from summoning a board meeting to discuss the matter. In my view, this is contrary to my duty as a director and as chairman of Clal Insurance Company. Since I believe that it is necessary to replace the CEO and I have been prevented from doing so, it is right that I should not bear responsibility for the outcome of this decision."
Shortly after the storm over the initiative to remove the CEO broke, amid claims by the latter that his removal was being instigated at the behest of shareholders with whose interests he refused to cooperate, the external examiner was appointed. The examiners, Danziger and Dr. Eyal Geva, sated in their report that they had found no evidence supporting the CEO's claims. Bareket has however criticized two shareholders for apparently seeking to influence the company's direction.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on June 15, 2020
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