Human Rights Alert (NGO)

Joseph Zernik, PhD PO Box 31440, Jerusalem ; 123456xyz@gmail.com;

13-01-27 FATCA: Bank of Israel-Banking Regulation response on a letter to Governor Stanley Fischer, dated October 14, 2012
Three Consumer's Complaints were filed with Bank of Israel, alleging criminality by the Israeli Bank HaPoalim, BM, in Jerusalem under the color of US law FATCA. Receipt of none of the Complaints was ever confirmed in writing, and none was ever addressed. Instead, the Bank of Israel replied on a letter to Governor Stanley Fischer, dated October 14, 2012, which protested the failure to process the formal Consumer Complaints. The January 27, 2013 response by Bank of Israel, on behalf of Governor Stanley Fischer, provides false and misleading statements, pertaining to the US law FATCA but fails to refer in any way to the law of the State of Israel. Petition to compel Stanley Fischer to enforce the law of the State of Israel was filed with the Supreme Court of the State of Israel. The Petition alleges that Stanley Fischer exchanged his loyalty to the State of Israel and its laws with loyalty to another nation and its laws, and/or loyalty to financial institutions and their interest. The Supreme Court refused to duly register the Petition. On January 1, 2013, after months of extortionist demands and threats, the account owner's funds, totaling $250,000 in cash deposits (no securities at all), were frozen. Bank HaPoalim refused to produce any written document to that effect, only verbal and phone communications. Around January 31, 2013, the account holder was informed that his accounts were unfrozen, after a meeting with the German Consul to Israel, to file a request for protection by the German Foreign Ministry against abuse of the Human Rights of the account owner, Dr Zernik, a Human Rights activist/Computer Science writer in Jerusalem. The letter from Bank of Israel suggests that the release of the funds was NOT due to any action by Bank of Israel- Banking Regulation. Conduct of Stanley Fischer and Bank of Israel must raise concern regarding integrity of Stanley Fischer's conduct as Governor of Bank of Israel, and regarding integrity and stability of the Israeli financial system in general.

Record

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1 13-01-27 Response by Bank of Israel-Banking Regulation on a letter to Governor 3 Stanley Fischer, dated October 14, 2012 [English translation jz] 2 13-01-27 Response by Bank of Israel-Banking Regulation on a letter to Governor 5 Stanley Fischer, dated October 14, 2012 [Hebrew original]

LINKS:
[1] 12-08-25 Dr Zernik's Complaint #1, filed with Israeli banking regulation against Bank HaPoalim - for attempting to extort compliance with US IRS regulations in Jerusalem http://es.scribd.com/doc/103922991/ [2] 12-08-25 PRESS RELEASE: Complaint filed with Israeli banking regulation against Bank HaPoalim for attempting to extort compliance with US IRS regulations in Jerusalem http://es.scribd.com/doc/103925800/ [3] 12-10-02 Repeat Request for Designation of a Complaint Number by Bank of Israel, Banking Regulation, for a complaint against Bank HaPoalim, BM http://www.scribd.com/doc/108760537/

[4] 12-10-14 Letter to Mr Stanley Fisher, Governor, Bank of Israel, RE: a) Renewed extortionist threats by Bank HaPoalim, BM, and b) Refusal of Bank of Israel, Banking Regulation to designate respective complaint number. http://www.scribd.com/doc/109996466/ [5] 13-01-02 Letter to Bank of Israel Stanley Fischer, in re: Complaint no 82304-12 against Bank HaPoalim, BM, status, addition https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8Aa2xQGbmk5U01HSnJjc2hmOW8 http://www.scribd.com/doc/118782081/ [6] 13-01-03 Letter to Stanley Fischer, Bank of Israel Governor RE- request for immediate production of records re FATCA-related complaint against Bank HaPoalim, BM http://www.scribd.com/doc/118792468/ [7] 13-01-03 PRESS RELEASE Stanley Fischer and FATCA - secret consumer complaint process in Israeli banking regulation http://www.scribd.com/doc/118800215/ [8] 13-01-04 FATCA-related Consumer Complaint No 2 against Bank HaPoalim, BM, and its Chief Internal Auditor Jacob Orbach, filed with Bank of Israel-Banking Regulation http://www.scribd.com/doc/118926904/ [9] 13-01-03 PRESS RELEASE: FATCA, Stanley Fischer - complaint asks release of $250,000 seized of "US Person" by Israeli Bank HaPoalim http://www.scribd.com/doc/119197205/ [10] 13-01-08 Freedom of Information on Bank of Israel, in re complaints filed with Bank of Israel by Dr Joseph Zernik against Bank HaPoalim, BM http://www.scribd.com/doc/119446776/ [11] 13-01-24 Complaint No 3 Against Bank HaPoalim, filed with Bank of Israel, alleging organized corporate crime http://www.scribd.com/doc/122010443/

Bank of Israel Banking Regulation Bank-Customer Division Jerusalem January 27, 2013 Ref # 82304-12-MS

Dear Sir, RE: Your letter regarding Bank HaPoalim, BM Your letter dated October 14, 2012, received October 14, 2012 Your letter to the office of the Governor was referred to the Public Communications Unit for response. To the best of our understanding, your letter indicates that the Bank acted pursuant to the amendment to the US tax code, known as FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act), which passed in 2010. The amendment applies to all financial institutions around the world, which work with the United States, among them banks, insurance companies, brokers, mutual investment funds, and more. The purpose of the amendment is to enhance the scope of US tax collection, by increasing the information reported by financial institutions outside the United States, relative to assets held by those, defined in FATCA as US Persons, who did not pay true tax. [sic jz] Pursuant to FATCA all financial institutions, as stated above, will be required, among other measures, to located among their clients, those who are US Persons, and ensure that they sign the appropriate documents to enable the financial institution to report to the US tax authorities various details regarding the clients. The financial institution will be required to close, or not open in the first place, an account for a clients that would refuse to permit the financial institution to transfer the details in their regard to the US tax authorities. A financial institution that would not comply with the requirements, detailed above, would be exposed to serious sanctions. The Israeli financial system is acting to implement the law, and among other measures, approaches the clients account holders, who correspond to the definition of US Person pursuant to FATCA to make them sign the necessary documents, which would permit ongoing reporting to the US tax authorities, pursuant to the requirements of the law, as detailed above. Regardless of the fact that it is a US law, the Israeli banking system, like the banking systems in many other nations, is gearing itself to act, pursuant to the demands of the US Ministry of the Treasury and tax authorities, in order to avoid sanctions by such bodies, including withholding from payments, transferred from the US to Israel, regardless of the individual clients [sicjz].

The Director General of the Ministry of the Treasury [of Israel - jz] established a committee to examine the various aspects, related to the above referenced law in Israel, including the [Israeli-jz] State Revenues Office, the Ministry of Justice, the Stock Exchange, and Bank of Israel. We understand that clarifications in the spirit of this letter have already been provided to you by [the Israeli-jz] Bank HaPoalim, BM, on November 4, 2012. With all our sympathy for the inconvenience and trouble, caused to the customers by the FATCA instructions, we regretfully cannot help you beyond providing clarifications, as detailed above. Respectfully, [hand signature] Miriam Segal Public Communications Unit.

PO 780, Jerusalem 91007; Tel: 02-655-2680; Fax: 02-666-9077