The decision has been made: an indictment will be filed against Nochi Danker. Tel Aviv District Prosecutor (Taxes and Economics) today notified Dankner that it would indict him, subject to a hearing, in the alleged share pegging case at IDB Holding Corp. Ltd. (TASE:IDBH), control of which was transferred yesterday from Dankner to Eduardo Elsztain and Moti Ben-Moshe.
Another suspect in the case, Itay Strum, has also been summoned for a hearing, making it clear to him that the District Prosecutor intends to file an indictment. Adi Sheleg will be the state's witness in the case, after he is indicted and convicted on the basis of his confession. The terms of the plea bargain are not yet known.
The final decision to indict Dankner was taken by the top officials at the State Prosecutor's Office, under new State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan, at the recommendation of the Tel Aviv District Prosecutor (Taxes and Economics).
Last week, after it was leaked to the media that the district prosecutor believed that it had sufficient evidence to summon Dankner and Strum for a hearing, and after a state's witness was recruited in the case, a meeting was held at the State Prosecutor's Office at which Jerusalem District Attorney Eli Abarbanel was present. After the meeting, Abarbanel updated Nitzan, and it was decided to summon Dankner and Strum for a hearing ahead of an indictment.
At the center of the case is the offering by IDB Holding on February 23, 2012, in which it raised NIS 321 million. The investigation found that IDB's then-controlling shareholder, Dankner, activated Strum, who in turn activated Sheleg, to fraudulently influence IDB's share price in order to improve the chances of the offering's success and its price.
Nochi Dankner's lawyer Adv. Eli Zohar said in response to the report, "We absolutely deny all the State Attorney's claims, as they emerge from today's announcement, and we believe that, following the hearing, it will be decided that there are no grounds for an indictment."
Adv. Navit Negev and Adv. Iris Niv Sabag of the Sheinman-Negev-Niv law firm, who represent Itay Strum, said "Strum acted lawfully and committed no crime. He believed in the company and in the success of the offering."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 6, 2014
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