Bank Leumi orders internal inquiry over leak of Halutz affair

By Haaretz Service
Aug. 15, 2006

Greatly embarrassed by the affair, Bank Leumi executives on Tuesday ordered an internal inquiry to determine whether its employees leaked information about the sale by Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz of an NIS 120,000 investment portfolio just hours after two IDF soldiers were abducted by Hezbollah on the northern border.

As the country's political and military echelons met urgently to discuss the possible declaration of war, Halutz went to sell the portfolio, the Ma'ariv newspaper reported on Tuesday.

In response to the report, Halutz confirmed to Ma'ariv that he sold the portfolio on that date, but denied it had anything to do with the possibility of an imminent war. The IDF chief said he sold the portfolio because of losses he sustained prior to July 12.

"It was my portfolio of shares, on which I had lost NIS 25,000," Halutz told Ma'ariv. "It is true that I sold the portfolio on July 12, 2006, but it is impossible to link that to the war. At the time I did not expect or think that there would be a war."

Senior sources in the IDF General Staff and field officers who took part in the war in Lebanon said Tuesday that Halutz cannot escape resignation.

The sources say there is a clear ethical flaw in the chief of staff's behavior during the hours when soldiers were being killed in Lebanon and others were attempting a rescue operation. Halutz should resign the moment the military completes its pullout from south Lebanon, they said.

At this stage, however, it seems unlikely that Halutz intends to quit of his own accord.

Several hours after the July 12 abduction, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared war on Hezbollah and Israel Air Force warplanes began bombing targets deep inside Lebanon.

Halutz described the Ma'ariv article exposing the affair as "malicious and tendentious - I don't intend to be dragged down to such a low level and blemish my integrity. I am a citizen too and have my own economic affairs. This has stained [my reputation] for no reason and is unworthy of any further comment."

MKs call for resignation
No government figures have yet commented on the affair but lawmakers from across the political spectrum have called for Halutz's resignation.

MK Collette Avital of Labor, Likud MK Gilad Erdan and MK Aryeh Eldad of the National Union led calls for Halutz to resign in the wake of the disclosures.

National Union-National Religious Party MK Zevulun Orlev called on Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to open an investigation into the affair.

The IDF Spokesperson said that Halutz has a bank account like any other Israeli citizen and needs to perform transactions in the account from time to time. Any attempt to link between personal matters of the chief of staff and Israel's national security is inappropriate, the army said.

No laws broken
The Israel Securities Authority said that Halutz's actions were not in contravention of the Companies Law regarding insider trading.

Section H.1 rules that insider information relates only to traded companies, not estimations in respect to the general situation of the market.

However, that in itself does not end the affair. If it turns out that Halutz sold shares in marketing companies or banks, assuming they would be facing hard times during the war, then his actions may be subject to investigation.