One of the topics of discussion yesterday (Monday) in the resumption of the Alps case trial was around the question of whether Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit did indeed approve as required to open an investigation against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accused of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
On this issue, the chief prosecutor in the Netanyahu trial, Adv. Liat Ben-Ari, surprised yesterday, for the first time admitting that the approvals for opening the 4000 and 1000 cases were given inadequately. “It may have been true that the approvals were given in a different way, There was written approval, but things were recorded in the minutes. “When you read these things, even within the limits of the blackout and internal records, you can understand that approval has been given.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pleaded guilty at a court hearing. Photo: Contact
Judge Moshe Bar Am was unmoved and hinted at the court’s direction when he said: “Failure to investigate is something we appreciate at the end. Therefore the claim is reserved, but it is not something we appreciate at the moment. When there is a complete picture it can be appreciated. We have no picture at the moment.”
“Looking at the approval given by the ombudsman on June 26, 2016, it has nothing to do with the 1000 case,” Netanyahu’s attorney, Adv. Amit Hadad, said. “This is about Ari Hru, this is the 2000 case. We see that there are also investigative actions regarding the 1000 case, one of which, done in April, is the investigation of Ben Caspit.”
“If approval had been given (the ombudsman), case 4000 would not have been investigated by the Securities Authority but by the Israel Police,” added the second defense attorney in the defense team, Adv. Boaz Ben-Zur. “The group of investigators went and investigated another case. There is no permit at all and the result is that an indictment is filed following a partisan, independent and unqualified investigation by an investigative authority. We complain about that.”
Representatives of the State Attorney’s Office explained that the fact that there was no written approval of the ombudsman to open the investigation lies in the fact that when it began, there was no basis to think that it would reach the prime minister. And Bezeq’s director general’s investigation does not require the ombudsman’s approval. “We were happy to have it (written documentation), but since the ombudsman did not think things would reach the prime minister, he did not address the need for written documentation,” they said.
Avichai Mandelblit (Photo: None)During the hearing, Ben-Zur referred to the spokesman’s memorandum regarding the approval of the investigation by him and said: “When a search warrant is executed, there is a minimal detail, which seeks to say search operations: a. Regarding the operation of the investigation, b. To be performed by an anonymous person. What we have here is shards. The constitutive act of the Basic Law of the Government Section 17 is the act of opening the criminal investigation. This is the Archimedean point. In other words, the ombudsman must approve the opening of the criminal investigation and not retrospectively. And if an investigation is opened without approval, this is a constitutional violation. “
Advocate Haddad added: “In the memorandum we received, there is no hint of case 1000, and yet the ombudsman says I approved. There is a gap in the paper itself, there is no permission to investigate case 1000, there is permission to investigate case 2000. In fact in case 1000 the state admits for the first time what is written. On page 5 of the ombudsman’s memorandum is incorrect and there is no written approval. “
Later, the hearing proceeded to deal with requests regarding the list of witnesses and documents by the defense team of Yedioth Ahronoth publisher Arnon Mozes and the former owner of Bezeq Shaul Alovich and his wife Iris. Adv. Jacques Chen, representing Shaul Alovich, claimed: It can not be that with a file that contains 100,000 documents – we are pressed and accelerated and we are tried and we have to prepare for such a trial without having the ability. “
“Instead of receiving a list of witnesses, we received groups of witnesses. To date, we have not received the investigators who will be included in the first group of witnesses,” he added. “I have been in this profession for almost 30 years. There is not and never has been such a procedure that took place without an orderly sitting before me, in which cases and materials and the order of witnesses are handed to us.
The band’s head coach, Rebecca Friedman-Feldman, responded: “It was before the Corona era. The assumption was that we would start hearing long before. All the material is in your hands.”
Adv. Chen continued: “Your Honor will see how much we fought for every comma in this case in order to receive what is usually and generously given, precisely so as not to delay, and for everything we were told no. We had to appeal to the district and the Supreme Court, and we have always absorbed in their responses comments and that we dare to comment on them. So we begin to hear weeping and weeping over demands from the nobility. There will be no such thing now. What I’m asking for – we’ve finished the preliminary stage. A hearing (evidence) will be scheduled, give us a list of exhibits by each witness. Give us the material binders, and it will allow us to prepare. “
Chen added that “it all stems from the accuser’s choice to start with the 4000 case. They chose to start with the 4000 case and they chose to conduct themselves in the way they conducted our requests. If we do not do it in an orderly fashion, every day we save now will cost us many more days later. “We are not asking for favors, but to act according to the law. The torture is the responsibility of the defendants, not of the prosecution. We also want to move forward, but we can not do it when we have our hands tied.”
Advocate Rosen Ozer, representing Iris Elovich, said: “The accuser’s way of presenting as if everything is going as usual and as usual is incorrect. In our sense, the accuser is imposing unnecessary difficulties on us. “