A Kibbutz Movement leader yesterday called on Tnuva CEO Arik Raichman to step down over the handling of the dairy's recent sale to Apax Partners.

In a sharply worded letter sent to the kibbutz movement secretariat, agriculture department head Gidi Sivan wrote that Raichman had planned and managed the sale in utmost secrecy while misleading shareholders.

Sivan claimed Raichman presented a picture to shareholders that losing control of Tnuva would be disastrous to them. At the same time, Sivan charges, Raichman himself was planning and moving the sale process forward - the same sale which he had warned shareholders about.

In a letter obtained by TheMarker, Sivan attacks Kibbutz Movement heads for not taking a firm stand against the process.

"There's no explanation for the utter silence among some leaders of the kibbutz economy in the wake of Raichman's actions," he wrote.

He accused the leaders at the same time of "taking every measure to prevent owners, representatives and dairy operators from putting together an alternative offer to acquire control of Tnuva."

Sivan is demanding that Kibbutz Movement institutions, which selected Raichman to serve as CEO, fire him immediately and appoint an acting CEO, who would award those shareholders interested in a competing offer the right of first refusal on any bid for control of Tnuva.

The official kibbutz journal reports that other senior movement leaders expressed strong opposition to the sale. The Kibbutz Movement currently holds 52 percent of Tnuva shares. Another department director, Razi Yahel, criticized the way in which the sale was handled, while director of regional kibbutz enterprises, Giora Masad, said the agreement was bad for milk producers.

Conditions agreed upon with the buyer are problematic, according to Masad, and will harm dairy producer rights in the long haul.

Leading kibbutz economist Dov Avital, in contrast, called on kibbutz members to accept the deal which, he claims, is the best compromise between the interests of shareholders seeking to cash in their shares and those who want to continue making a living from the selling milk to Tnuva.

The head of the movement's economic division, Doron Satt, said he would work on a dialogue between the sides ahead of the Tnuva shareholders' meeting so the meeting will end in an agreement over Tnuva's fate.