Frenkel's tough times: Complaint filed for wage conduct while at Bank of Israel

Former Bank of Israel Governor Jacob Frenkel had a hard day Monday after State Comptroller, retired justice Eliezer Goldberg, filed the annual State Comptroller report.

The report says that Frenkel enjoyed special arrangements amounting to hundreds of thousands of shekels in excess of his eligibility.

Frenkel served as governor for two terms from August 1991 to January 2000. From 1987 to 2000 he served as economic adviser and head of research at the International Monetary Fund. Today he serves as chairman of investment bank Merrill Lynch International, and sits on the board of several Israel hi-tech companies, including Emblaze (LSE:BLZ), and Lumenis (Nasdaq:LUME).

The report doesn't improve the reputation of the person who came to Lumenis as chairman in order to improve its capital market image, and, as if to prove the point, on Monday Lumenis plunged 12.1% to $8.

The report gave rise to harsh criticism against Frenkel. In light of the report's findings, Constitution, Law and Justice Committee Chairman MK Ophir Pines-Paz of the Labor Party filed a complaint with the police against Frenkel. Pines-Paz said that Frenkel has a great deal of credit in his favor, but no one is above the law. Opposition head MK Yossi Sarid called on the Israel Prize committee to reconsider this year's economics award, which went to Frenkel.