More than six months after former IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH) chairman Nochi Danker's conviction for share manipulation and two months after he was sentenced to a two-year prison term, the Israel Bar Association National Disciplinary Tribunal (NDT) today decided to suspend Dankner from the practice of law.
As reported in "Globes," the Bar Association regional ethics committee recently submitted to the NDT a petition for Dankner's temporary suspension from the profession of law. The petition stated that Dankner's temporary suspension was called for, because "the offenses of which Dankner was convicted are serious and shameful crimes." The NDT today granted this petition.
Dankner is appealing both his conviction and his sentence to the Supreme Court, while the State Prosecutor's Office is appealing the sentence to the Supreme Court and asking that Dankner be sentenced to a 3-6 year term in prison. He notified the NDT that no hearing was necessary, because the suspension of his IBA membership was temporary, pending his appeal to the Supreme Court.
The ethics committee's petition for Dankner's suspension from the practice of law is based on Section 78(B) of the Chamber of Advocates Law, which states that if a lawyer has been convicted of a criminal offense in a civilian or military court, the Regional Disciplinary Tribunal is entitled, at the request of a complainant, and if it finds that the circumstances of the crime were shameful, to temporarily suspend him from the practice of his profession pending a final ruling to be issued under Section 75.
Section 75 makes it possible to permanently invalidate a license to practice law, or to suspend it for a specific period, to fine the person, to warn him, and to take additional measures against him.
The Bar Association's petition also reveals that Dankner, regarded as one of the strong men in the Israeli economy up until several years ago, renewed his lawyer's license on November 4, 2014. Dankner had previously suspended (limited) his license on May 16, 2005 because he had not actually practiced law.
This means that Dankner's license had been renewed by the Bar Association at a time when he was an accused in a criminal trial being conducted against him. The Tel Aviv District State Prosecutor's Office (taxation and economics) filed the indictment against Dankner in June 2014.
Meeting Dan Dankner in prison
Why did a person like Dankner renew his lawyer's license, which he had not used for years, having been busy with business affairs? One theory is that he did it in order to more easily obtain permission to visit his cousin, former Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) chairman Dan Dankner, in prison.
The timing of the renewal shortly after Dan Dankner began serving his term supports this theory. Nochi Dankner renewed his license two days after Dan Dankner entered Hermon Prison. Dan Dankner began serving an eight-month term following a plea bargain resulting in his conviction for corporate fraud and breach of trust and improper management of a banking corporation committed during his term as chairman of Bank Hapoalim. Nochi Dankner filed a request to renew his license on November 4, 2014 (Dan Dankner was later convicted of bribery and money laundering in the Holyland affair trials, and began servicing a two-year term in Maasiyahu Prison on February 15, 2016).
According to Israel Prison Service regulations, first-degree family members and lawyers handling a prisoner's affairs are entitled to visit him. In practice, however, almost any practicing lawyer is entitled to meet with a prisoner in jail if the prisoner declares that the lawyer in question represents him.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on February 1, 2017
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