Koor Industries, the Histadrut-owned conglomerate, reported a quarter-billion dollar loss in its 1987 balance sheet published this week.
It is the biggest financial loss ever reported by an Israeli company.
Benny Gaon, who took over as head of Koor only six weeks ago, described the situation as “catastrophic.”
Gaon and Histadrut Secretary General Yisrael Kessar said at a news conference that the reason for the losses were the lack of proper reporting and control within the complex.
As a result, the heads of its various divisions were unaware of the true situation day-to-day. They said this would be remedied and management would be made more efficient at all levels.
Koor, in debt $1 billion owed mainly to Bank Hapoalim, is basically sound, said Gaon, and reports of the losses had not led to any cuts in credit lines from any banks around the world.
In the past, losses by any of its nearly 300 separate companies were covered by profits from other enterprises.
Opposition spokesmen within the Histadrut Executive have called for a “Commissions of Inquiry” to look into what they termed the “mismanagement” of the current trades union federation directorate.
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