Mayor-elect Moshe Lion won’t take car from Jerusalem but will take salary
Lion, who is a successful accountant, decided to use his own Audi A8 when mayor. His car is worth some NIS 750,000. However, he will not turn down the monthly salary.
By GIL HOFFMANMoshe Lion and Nir Barkat 521(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)Incoming Jerusalem mayor Moshe Lion, who will be sworn in to replace Nir Barkat next week, announced with great fanfare that he will not take the expensive car he is entitled to from the city.But Lion, unlike Barkat, will accept the NIS 44,223 monthly salary that is set by the Interior Ministry.Barkat, who Forbes Israel estimated had a net worth of $118 million three years ago, took a symbolic annual salary of NIS 1 each year during the decade he was mayor. He also paid for his own flights abroad on city business and turned down the car worth up to NIS 250,000 that a mayor of Jerusalem is entitled to by Interior Ministry guidelines.The outgoing mayor, who is Israel’s wealthiest politician, amassed his fortune from the sale of his software start-up company BRM to Symantec and due to his success in venture capitalism.Lion, who is a successful accountant, decided to use his own Audi A8 when mayor. His car is worth some NIS 750,000. However, he will not turn down the monthly salary.On Wednesday, Transportation Minister Israel Katz hosted Lion on a tour of the new Jerusalem rail station, and the two took the train together.
