MK Carmel Shama-Hacohen
Photo: Gil Yohanan
MK Shama: Delek a family company
Chairman of Knesset's Economic Affairs Committee says ahead of discussion on restructuring Delek Real Estate's debt, 'Company does not deserve to use our pension funds to raise capital'
"A company such as Delek Real Estate, in which the owner's daughter, brother and son-in-law are on the payroll and receive options and bonuses amounting to tens of millions, is a family firm and not a public company," chairman of the Knesset's Economic Affairs Committee, Knesset Member Carmel Shama-Hacohen (Likud),
said Wednesday ahead of a discussion on the firm's debt restructuring deal.
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According to MK Shama, "A company which pays tens of millions of shekels in salary costs, benefits and management and consulting fees to managers and other companies held by the controlling shareholder is not a company that deserves to use our pension funds to raise billions in capital.
"Clearly, the debt restructuring proposal, the 'haircut', is not submitted with clean hands but by the same hands that were reckless with the public's money – regardless of whether the negligence was on part of the management or the owner or both.
Shama went on to say that "the silence on the part of the institutional bodies on every inch of the road when it came to the approval of deals with parties at interest including the acquisition of the Carmel Beach project from Yitzhak Tshuva himself, the hiring of family members and the 'haircut' proposal should sound off an alarm bell for all of us, indicating that something very fishy is going on in Israel's capital and pension fund markets, where each and every one of us entrust our economic future.
"It is unfair and unjust that controlling shareholders and CEOs celebrate with millions in bonuses each time the markets climb, but when things are the other way round, not only do they not return the bonuses to the public, they seek to give our pensions a haircut.
"I would like to thank the Israel Securities Authority for assisting me in obtaining the data which enabled me to shed light on the truth and to lift the smoke screen that Delek Real Estate representatives tried to create through the media."
Delek Real Estate said in response, "The company has always operated lawfully and in full transparency and shall continue to do so in the future. All of the figures presented at the Economic Affairs Committee were reported by the company and duly approved."
Click here to read this report in Hebrew
