Last update - 04:17 04/05/2007
Probe: Group paid associate of Hirchson over $700,000
By Amiram Barkat
The non-profit group March of the Living paid more than $700,000 to an associate of disgraced Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson, who has recently suspended himself due to the corruption investigation against him, according to a joint investigation by The Jewish Week and the business daily Globes.
The businessman who received the money, Curtis Hoxter, is also closely associated with former World Jewish Congress leader Israel Singer, who is president of the Claims Conference, a Jewish umbrella organization that has paid millions of dollars to the March of the Living.
The Claims Conference announced last week that it had opened a comprehensive examination of fund transfers to the March of the Living following the police probe against Hirchson and the reported suspicions against him.
Hoxter, 85, acted behind the scenes in the 1990s during the negotiations between the WJC and the Swiss banks over compensation fees for owners of latent accounts. In 2001 Singer was considering joining Hoxter's public relations company in Manhattan as a partner.
He decided to step down after being warned of a conflict of interest.
Two months ago Haaretz reported that from 2001 to 2003 Hoxter had received payments from the WJC in the amount of $657,000 without doing anything in return. The payments were stopped after WJC was accused of financial disorders. These charges were followed by an investigation of then New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who found Singer and his chief aide, Elan Steinberg, responsible for financial mismanagement of the organization.
The March of the Living began payments to Hoxter, totaling $709,000, the year Singer was instructed to stop making unauthorized payments to him via the WJC, The Jewish Week reports.
The money was purportedly paid for "fundraising," but Hoxter was unable to explain what work he did for the group.
The Claims Conference, which represents Holocaust victims in negotiations for compensation from Germany, has been allocating millions of dollars annually in recent decades to organizations helping needy Holocaust survivors and commemorating the Holocaust.
Since 1998 the commission has transferred some $7.5 million for "student scholarships."
Singer, who was recently forced out of the WJC, remains the Claims Conference president.
Claims Conference officials said that Singer has never filled any role in its allocations process. However, the officials said they had instructed an accountant's examination of fund transfers to the March of the Living.
Hirchson's attorney Yaakov Weinrot confirmed that his client brought Hoxter to March of Living, but said Hirchson had not "realized his salary would be so large."