Attorney General Yitzhak Zamir ordered a police investigation today of possible violations of currency laws by the Labor-affiliated Bank Hapoalim.
Zamir said the nature of the offenses attributed to the bank justifies a full-scale investigation by the police rather than an inquiry by the Bank of Israel, the country’s central bank, which could be satisfied with fines and administrative sanctions should the charges be proven correct. In a letter to Eli Kulas, chairman of the Knesset’s Law Committee, Zamir said he was dealing with complaints against the Bank Hapoalim without political implications. This was an indirect reference to charges by some Likud Knesset members that the Attorney General was energetically pursuing a West Bank land sales fraud case involving Likud politicians while ignoring alleged violations by Labor-affiliated institutions.
Mordechai Virshubsky of the Shinui Party said on television today that the bank is suspected of having formed dummy companies abroad to carry out foreign currency transactions it could not undertake itself without violating the law. A spokesman for the bank denied the allegations. He said all transactions of the Bank Hapoalim were reported to the proper authorities and were entirely legal.
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