Outgoing WJC President Edgar Bronfman
Photo: AP
Ronald Lauder
Photo: Ori Porat
Ex-WJC lawyer calls for Kaplan to stand down
Lawyer who first drew attention to financial mismanagement at the World Jewish Congress sends out email saying South African industrialist Mendel Kaplan should not stand in Sunday's WJC presidential election
On the eve of Sunday's elections for the presidency of the World Jewish Congress, Daniel Lack, the former WJC lawyer who first drew attention to financial mismanagement at the international organization, sent an email Thursday to leading figures in the Jewish world calling on all the current leaders of the WJC to resign.
In the email, which Ynetnews has seen, he calls in particular for the resignation of chairman of the executive, Mendel Kaplan, a South African industrialist and communal leader, who is opposing American cosmetics billionaire Ronald S Lauder for the position of WJC president. A third candidate, Einat Wilf, is also contesting the post.
In a sharply worded statement, Lack said: "It is not that I suspect Kaplan or his supporters of any corruption or misdoings. What I query, rather, is their blind determination to try and pretend that everything was alright under (former policy council chairman Yisrael) Singer’s management, when it clearly was not."
In March, the outgoing WJC president, Edgar Bronfman fired Singer, and accused him of having stolen from him. Singer denied the charges. The firing came over a year after then New York attorney general Elliot Spitzer issued a sharply critical report into financial shortcomings and mismanagement at the WJC.
