Engelman ordered the return of the director general of the Friends Association, who warned of irregularities in donations revealed in "Israel Today" • The association: "Working according to the law"
Wolfson Hospital
Photography:
Joshua Joseph
Disclosure: The
State Comptroller and Ombudsman, Matanyahu Engelman, ordered a temporary order and an extraordinary move to reinstate Natalie Issachar, director of the Friends Association of Wolfson Hospital in Holon.
This is after she was taken on August 1 for unpaid leave (Khalat), in close proximity to her repeated complaints about "improper conduct in the association, which was expressed in the lack of transparency towards donors and the use of their funds not under their guidance."
Engelman issued a temporary order for four months, reserved for the association to return to regular and full-time work starting today, and to ensure a "proper and non-abusive work environment, without prejudice to her status, powers and rights as an employee."
The comptroller's decision was subsequently made for revelations in "Israel Today" in August this year, according to which the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Justice are investigating suspicions raised by Issachar.
Basically: Serious and ongoing irregularities in the donations transferred to Wolfson through the hospital's Friends Association. In this context, a complaint of irregularities in the donations to Corona is also being investigated.
In this decision, the auditor accepted Issachar's request from that month, for protection as exposing corruption.
He stated that "Issachar alerted the association's management to acts that may at least amount to serious harm to good administration," and that "the association formulated the decision to take a vacation in close proximity to its warnings."
Engelman did not accept the association's explanations that the vacation was due to the corona crisis and a decrease in the scope of the association's activities.
He noted that according to the association's data, this year there was an apparent increase in the volume of donations.
The complaints were forwarded in May and July this year by Issachar herself.
According to the complaint, this is a method according to which the "Friends Association in Wolfson acted while materially sinning against the rules of proper administration, by submitting requests for donations for medical equipment, renovation or construction that have already been made from hospital and Ministry of Health funds. "The donors, use of dedicated donations that are not according to their purpose and put them to the free use of the hospital management, contrary to the directive and the will of the donors, without them being aware of it and while presenting misleading references, and reporting that they are false."
As revealed in "Israel Today", Issachar asked Engelman to recognize her as "exposing corruption". She demanded that "order the hospital and the association to order her immediate return to work and prevent further severe harassment against her, which came as a direct response to exposing and warning the administration. Improper and serious irregularities, improper use of donors' money and fear of serious acts of corruption. "
According to her complaint to the State Comptroller, some of the donations transferred to the hospital's hospital account "lose their original purpose and are candidates for free use by the hospital management as it sees fit and contrary to promises given to donors, and thus funds donated to life-saving devices for doctors And are used, for example, for furniture for the hospital management office, for travel abroad, for renovating a ceiling in the hallway, for purchasing signs and more. "
"This is a misunderstanding"
The complaint is based on hundreds of pages of documents, contracts and internal correspondence, and the extraordinary request was submitted to the State Comptroller, attorneys Daniel Raz and Yaniv Shani from the management of the Legal Aid Division at the Ministry of Justice.
The lawyers said they welcomed the order.
"This is an important and just decision, and we trust the State Comptroller's Office to know how to exhaust the further investigation into this complaint."
Wolfson's management responded:
"Natalie Issachar does not work at the hospital." In response to previous publications in "Israel Today", Wolfson previously claimed that Issachar's conduct "indicates a lack of understanding of her role."
The Wolfson Friends Association stated:
"All of the association's activities comply with the rules of law and ethics, are supervised and approved by the Registrar of Associations.
The allegations in the letter of the association's director general stem from a misunderstanding of the method of raising donations.
