"The message from our words is clear: the person who communicates illegally takes a risk; The authority cannot completely disavow the payment, even so as not to enrich it in an unlawful manner. But the payment will be much less than expected, since no reward should be given to those who acted illegally, and the public's pocket should not be charged to the full whims and omissions of its agents."
- In determining the aforementioned sum, I took into account the sum of ILS 56,407 that the defendant was willing to pay to the plaintiff in the framework of the draft agreement that she forwarded to her (Appendix 3 of the statement of defense; when this sum should be considered as a confession of a litigant), the words of Mr. Fares in his testimony before me ("I think then... I really went into his calculations, I reached 250,000 to 300,000 shekels with him, I could swallow it. I think it was reasonable"; p. 27, paras. 1-2), the price quote even though it was not signed, as well as the plaintiff's arguments regarding the Gilad Junction project and the fact that these are similar projects in terms of the required works (in this regard, see paragraph 18 of the statement of claim; the plaintiff's attorney's words at p. 41, paras. 27-35).
- For the avoidance of doubt, I will clarify that the testimony of Mr. Fares regarding the aforementioned sum, which seems reasonable to him (between ILS 250,000 and ILS 300,000), is clear that it does not substitute for an opinion or as conclusive evidence to prove the consideration due to the plaintiff, but in the circumstances of the case I found that it can constitute a certain evidentiary weight among all the considerations in determining the amount that the defendant must pay, in view of the role of this witness at the time and his involvement in the conduct of the negotiations with the plaintiff. on his details and after the relevant information was brought to him.
The witness detailed at length the sequence of events regarding the negotiations that took place (pp. 22-24), inter alia -