"Bank Leumi is not legally obliged to hand over to heirs money it had held for people who died in the Holocaust, Justice (ret.) Theodor Or says in an internal report he prepared at the request of the bank's board of directors.
"The company asked the bank in March for money in 1,299 accounts belonging to Holocaust victims, totaling some NIS 147 million. The company later asked for NIS 250 million more, from some 1,000 additional accounts in the bank. Most of the sum consists of revalued accounts, after adding accumulated interest and linkage until 1960, when the bank passed them on to the Custodian General.
"Avital said the report washing its hands of paying the revalued funds was "outrageous." She said the banks for years had invested the money of people who died in the Holocaust, and must return it at its true value. "The bank converted the money it held into ridiculously low amounts, and even the cabinet insisted it must be revalued," she said. "Then along comes mister judge, and the bank, instead of paying, starts dragging its feet again."
"The company asked the bank in March for money in 1,299 accounts belonging to Holocaust victims, totaling some NIS 147 million. The company later asked for NIS 250 million more, from some 1,000 additional accounts in the bank. Most of the sum consists of revalued accounts, after adding accumulated interest and linkage until 1960, when the bank passed them on to the Custodian General.
"Avital said the report washing its hands of paying the revalued funds was "outrageous." She said the banks for years had invested the money of people who died in the Holocaust, and must return it at its true value. "The bank converted the money it held into ridiculously low amounts, and even the cabinet insisted it must be revalued," she said. "Then along comes mister judge, and the bank, instead of paying, starts dragging its feet again."
From The Jerusalem Post | Holocaust survivors to sue Bank Leumi
"In an increasingly bitter legal dispute, the Company for Restitution of Holocaust Victims' Assets will file a NIS 305 million lawsuit against Bank Leumi next week over assets that belong to Holocaust victims and their heirs, a group spokeswoman said Wednesday.
"The legal action against Israel's second largest bank follows years of fruitless negotiations to reclaim the funds that the restitution group said were deposited by Holocaust victims in thousands of bank accounts before World War II.
"The NIS 305m. being claimed in the lawsuit, which will be filed in a Tel Aviv court, was deposited by Holocaust victims in more than 3,500 Bank Leumi accounts, group spokeswoman Meital Noy said.
"The legal action against Israel's second largest bank follows years of fruitless negotiations to reclaim the funds that the restitution group said were deposited by Holocaust victims in thousands of bank accounts before World War II.
"The NIS 305m. being claimed in the lawsuit, which will be filed in a Tel Aviv court, was deposited by Holocaust victims in more than 3,500 Bank Leumi accounts, group spokeswoman Meital Noy said.
From JTA | Bank Leumi holding Holocaust victims’ money
"One percent of the shares of Bank Leumi, some $57 million, are in the names of Jews killed in the Holocaust.
"The figured appeared in a report issued last week by Israel’s Custodian General, according to Ha’aretz. The money has its origins in an 1899 initiative by Theodor Herzl to raise money for the Jewish Colonial Trust, the financial arm of the World Zionist Organization. Many Eastern European Jews bought shares, and in 1902 the Jewish Colonial Trust established the Anglo-Palestine Bank, which later became Bank Leumi.
"In recent years Israel has been shaken by revelations that state institutions concealed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of assets belonging to Holocaust victims.
"The figured appeared in a report issued last week by Israel’s Custodian General, according to Ha’aretz. The money has its origins in an 1899 initiative by Theodor Herzl to raise money for the Jewish Colonial Trust, the financial arm of the World Zionist Organization. Many Eastern European Jews bought shares, and in 1902 the Jewish Colonial Trust established the Anglo-Palestine Bank, which later became Bank Leumi.
"In recent years Israel has been shaken by revelations that state institutions concealed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of assets belonging to Holocaust victims.
