The board of directors of Natibi Israel Company approved the appointment of attorney Elad Bardogo, a Likud member and Yaakov Bardogo’s nephew, to the position of the company’s ombudsman, in a controversial move after he was ranked third among the candidates who came to the board of directors and despite the clear political affiliation of the person destined to be the gatekeeper of the company.
In the meantime, Globes has learned that the Companies Authority has started an examination of the appointment procedures and until the end of the examination, the appointment was frozen.
In the letter sent on behalf of the Director of the Government Companies Authority, Michal Rosenbaum, it is written “In light of the publications that the selected candidate has a political affiliation, I would like to know whether this affiliation,
To the extent that it exists, it was examined by the legal advisor who accompanied the tracing procedure and what was his opinion on the matter. Inasmuch as the issue was not examined during the tracing procedure, I would like to receive the opinion of the legal advisor who accompanied the tracing procedure regarding this connection and its effect on the recommendations of the tracing committee. .
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Globes also learned that last summer the candidacy of Attorney Bardugo for the position of legal advisor of the Ayalon Routes company did not mature after he reached the 8 candidates but did not make it to the final 4 candidates. This is due to a positive impression but also because he does not have deep experience In the tender laws – which are the basis of the activity of an infrastructure company. The government infrastructure companies actually serve as management companies for contractors who are selected in tenders to carry out transportation projects, and therefore knowledge and experience in tender laws is critical to the success of the position, hence its sensitivity.
Attorney Bardugo accepted the position at Natibi Israel, which is responsible for approximately 6-7 billion shekels per year, and which Minister of Transportation Miri Regev intends to also transfer to her hands the metro project, which we estimate the budget to be 150 billion shekels now, after he failed to get a similar position at Natibi Ayalon, which is responsible for the budget Much smaller than before the last election.
Bardugo ranked third among the candidates for appointment
The board of directors of Natibi Israel Company yesterday (Tuesday) approved the appointment of the Likud member, lawyer Elad Bardogo, to the position of the company’s legal advisor. Bardugo, ranked third among the candidates and senior public service officials competed alongside him. He is a well-known lawyer in the field of infrastructures and was a partner in the Goldfarb Seligman firm, and also testified himself in the past as a Likud member and party commander.
This is the role of a critical gatekeeper in a company that serves as the main contractor for the Ministry of Transportation. The position is of particular importance in Israel Routes since it faced a huge corruption case in 2016.
The appointment committee led by the CEO of the company put forward three final candidates for the board of directors, and as mentioned, Attorney Bardugo, the nephew of Yaakov Bardugo, a close associate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was ranked third. In the board of directors, he was elected by a majority of 5 votes against 4 dissenters, one of which is the board member Linda Ben Shoshan who resigned from the board of directors yesterday in protest of the appointment. The representative of the Companies Authority who was present at the hearing did not express a position against the appointment. The company claims that the search committee was accompanied by a retired judge and a summary report was prepared but has not yet provided the name of the judge and the said report to Globes’ request.
Allegations of beheading and interference in the management of Israel’s roads
The board of directors of Natibi Israel is controlled by a close associate of Transport Minister Miri Regev Yigal Amadi, who was documented working alongside her in the Likud primaries while serving as chairman of a government company – something that is allowed by law but caused a reexamination of the procedures at the Companies Authority and the Ministry of Justice. In 2015, he was appointed by Regev as chairman of the Israeli Council for Culture.
The chairman previously directed that every tender held by the company be forwarded through him to deputy department managers, even though the authority of the board of directors only concerns more senior appointments and allegations have been made in the company of beheading and interference in management.
The company stated in response that “as part of the stages of the competition, the candidates for the position declare their experience, education (by presenting certificates of loyalty to the source) as well as their abilities. It is neither customary nor legitimate to ask candidates for which other positions they have applied for or are applying for at the same time. As this violates their privacy and is not relevant to the selection process And the specific choice. Accordingly, we do not usually ask candidates about this matter. And therefore we also do not know which of the contestants ran for which position and when.”
Earlier today, the company stated that “The Israel Routes Company attaches great importance to the appointments of senior officials in general and gatekeepers in particular. The search process for the position of the company’s ombudsman was accompanied by two senior legal observers, including a retired judge who accompanies the company in these processes and wrote a summary report for the committee’s work The subcommittee found that the company’s conduct was normal and in accordance with the procedures and the law.”
“The search committee conducted itself according to high standards and in accordance with the procedures. After examining all the candidates, the committee recommended to the board of directors 3 qualified candidates for the position. The personnel committee of the board of directors discussed the issue after interviewing the 3 candidates and examining all of their data and decided to unanimously accept the CEO’s recommendation and to appoint the lawyer Elad Bardogo to the position in light of his experience and relative advantages.
Accordingly, a recommendation was brought to the board of directors for discussion, at the end of which a vote was held among the directors and the candidate was approved by a majority of votes. The appointment is subject to the approval of the Government Companies Authority.”
Bardugo’s attorney did not respond until the time of publication of the article.