Watchdog asks A-G to probe MK Nir Barkat on Pandora Papers

• Published date: 05 October 2021
• Author: GIL HOFFMAN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The watchdog group said the allegations needed to be checked properly and thoroughly.

The Pandora Papers is the world's largest-ever journalistic collaboration, with over 600 journalists from 117 countries analyzing over 11.9 million documents, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The documents expose over 330 politicians from over 90 countries.

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The papers revealed that Barkat transferred shares in several companies to his brother Eli Barkat when he was elected to the Knesset in 2019, despite the Ethics Committee requiring new MKs to sell or lease their holdings to a person who is not a relative. The reports said Barkat also held shares of a large company that registered in a tax haven instead of in Israel. At the beginning of this year, the company in question expected that its profits in 2025 would stand at about $700 million, according to Shomrim, a nonprofit investigative journalism newsroom and ICIJ's partner in Israel.

Barkat's holding company, BRM, in 2007 participated in the initial capital raising for eToro, a social network for trading in the capital market, based in Bnei Brak but registered in the Virgin Islands, according to Shomrim. In March 2021, eToro announced that it would enter the NASDAQ at a value of about $10 million.

In a statement on Twitter, Barkat, who is the wealthiest MK, personally responded to the charges for the first time on Monday night.

"I am not surprised by the attacks on me," he wrote. "You know who is behind attempts at character assassination of Likud and right-wing...