The Administrative Enforcement Committee of the Securities Authority ruled today that the CEO, VP of Construction and former CFO of Dori Construction are responsible for including misleading details in the reports in 2012-2014, when as part of the enforcement carried out, actual sanctions were imposed totaling more than 2.5 million NIS.
The Administrative Enforcement Committee, chaired by retired Judge Zeev Hamer, and members of the committee, Adv. Roni Talmore and Dr. Meir Sokoler, determined on December 17, 2020, the responsibility of former Dori CEO Ariel Wilensky, Doron’s former CEO Miller, as well as the company’s CFO Itamar Eldar, in the relevant period, to include misleading details in the reports of Dori Construction Ltd. in the years 2012-2014.
This decision was published after the 60 days required by the Securities Law from the date of the decision until its publication and the decision today concludes the procedure in practice. The Enforcement Committee determined that the Company’s CEO and VP of Execution, committed six reported violations of the inclusion of a misleading detail in Dori’s financial statements between 2012-2014. In addition, the committee determined that the CFO committed two reported violations of the inclusion of a misleading detail in Dori’s annual report for 2013 as well as in the report for the first quarter of 2014.
As part of the administrative enforcement procedure, the company’s CEO, Ariel Wilensky, was imposed a financial sanction of NIS 400,000 for the actual payment, in addition to an amount of NIS 400,000 on condition of preventing the holding of an actual office for three years.
The Chief Executive Officer, Doron Miller, was fined NIS 250,000 for the actual payment, in addition to a sum of NIS 250,000 on probation and the prevention of an actual office for two years. The Chief Financial Officer, Itamar Eldar, was fined NIS 75,000. Shekel for actual payment and one year of withholding a probationary term.
The other parties involved in the case, who were included in the statement of claim against the officers, ended their interest in enforcement arrangements. In December 2020, an enforcement arrangement was approved with the Company, in the framework of which the Company fully acknowledged the inclusion of misleading details in the above six financial statements in the years 2012-2014.
The Authority says that the misleading details revealed led to Dori Benya being forced to perform a “restatement” of the reports in the total amount of hundreds of millions of shekels during 2014. The company was fined NIS 1.5 million and a conditional financial sanction of NIS 1.5 million. Shekel, taking steps to prevent the recurrence of violations. ”
Everything is good and beautiful, but why torture the law for all of us?
In Israel, people like to blame the burden on the courts for cases being dragged on for years and years. But that is not the case. After all, an administrative committee convened, so it is not an ordinary court, but a committee appointed by the authority. Its power is legal performance, but it differs from the judiciary and its ills.
So if the Securities Authority has been aware of the issue since 2014 – they are explicitly writing that that year Dori had to do a “re-presentation” of reports amounting to hundreds of millions – why it took so long to get convicted and prosecuted. Only last December did they reach the verdict. Only God probably knows how we got into this situation.
What’s sad is that this is not the only case and probably will not be. And as long as this torture continues – both for the accused but also for the public who need to know that criminals pay the price as quickly as possible, if and when they are convicted – it in itself constitutes a loophole calling for a thief.
This is therefore an important ruling that will make companies think a little more before accounting tricks they put into their reports and adding reports that are on the gray border of truth. In the US, Bernie Madoff was tried and convicted about six months after the biggest Ponzi scam in history was discovered, here thieves can enjoy a whole decade, until they are convicted and if at all.
But as important as the decision was, it would have been more important if it had not been given as early as the summer of 2015. Because then it would have had much more meaning.