Last update - 00:00 21/06/2007
Selection panel told Supreme Court candidates will favor bank sector
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
Four of the five lawyers competing for appointments as Supreme Court justices have represented in the past, or are currently representing, banking corporations - and are thus likely to be partial to the banking sector as judges, a group of lawyers and activists informed the judicial selection committee recently.
The group raised this in a complaint they passed to the committee before its coming session, expected to take place Sunday.
A group of lawyers and other activists, headed by banking expert Eli Levinger, launched an investigation into the candidates' professional backgrounds.
The probe revealed that attorney Dalia Tal, nominated by Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann, was Bank Leumi's legal advisor for many years, as advisor to the bank's chairman. In the past she also held senior positions in the Bank of Israel.
Of all the candidates, Tal is the one most identified with the banking sector, with banking law and the capital market as the main area of her expertise.
Other candidates, however, have also represented and or currently represent banking corporations, either personally or through lawyers in their firms.
Attorney Hanan Melcer represented Israel Discount bank in the contentious Carmel Tunnel Project suit, Dr. Yoram Danziger represented Bank Hapoalim, Bank Mishkan and Bank Yahav, and attorney Asaf Posner represents Mercantile Discount Bank and the Union Bank of Israel.
Some committee members voiced additional objections Tuesday to perceived conflicts of interest involving personal and professional ties between panel members and candidates.
The "bank attorneys," wrote the group of dozens of lawyers to the selection committee, "have made every effort to prevent bank customers from realizing their rights, they distorted and emptied all content from class action lawsuits, and, it must be assumed they are likely to make judgments favorable to the banking sector on all the crucial issues."
Of the 12 candidates the committee is considering, seven are district judges and five are lawyers from the private sector. Some were put forward by committee members Yuri Guy-Ron, Pinhas Marinsky and MK Orit Noked (Labor). Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann, the committee chairman, proposed the others.