Bethel Finance: Vita owner: I want to close the factory - you have a problem?

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Vita owner: I want to close the factory - you have a problem?
Treasury official: This is extortion. They've taken the workers hostage.
28 February 12 10:00, Globes' correspondent
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"Why attack me? If I want to close the factory, that's my right, isn't it? Is this Russia of the 1970s or Israel of the 2000s? I want to close the factory! You have a problem with me?" Vita Pri Galil Ltd. owner Oshik Efraim told “IDF Radio" (Galei Zahal) today, in response to the criticism leveled against him for closing the company's canning plant. He said that the company's owners did not pocket a penny of the government aid received.

Vita's factory will reopen today at the request of Knesset Finance Committee chairman MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism), in view of progress in talks on government aid.

Efraim added, "2,000 employees were fired at Agrexco; did anyone cover that? But everyone comes here. Tell me, do you think that I pocketed the NIS 18 million? I didn’t take a penny of this money."

Earlier this week, the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor slammed Vita Pri Galil's management for closing its factory in Hazor Haglilit last Friday, and moving the machinery to another factory in Nahariya. The company said that the decision to move the production lines and send 300 employees on unpaid vacation was due to a breach of promise by the government to provide the factory NIS 18 million.

A government official said that the company was ineligible for aid, because the factory was ineligible for a grant under the Law for the Encouragement of Capital Investment, since it did not export its products. The factory would also be ineligible for aid under other programs because the last investment in it was made in 2008, and grants could not be made retroactively.

"This is extortion. There is no other word," a top government official told "Globes" in response to the actions by Vita's owners. "They've taken the factory workers hostage. They haven’t lost money; they simply decided to move their operations to Nahariya because they were promised lower water rates and lower arnona (local property tax). They also pay their employees less there. It's all about profits."

Vita Pri Galil is owned by Oshik Efraim and a brother-in-law, Zaki Shalom, the owner of the Hezi Hinam independent supermarket chain.