According to the defense, it should be determined that Mimran denied Ben-Eliezer's involvement at the beginning of his investigation, whether before the date on which the license was granted to the company ACC or afterwards.
I am unable to accept the argument, since it seems to me that the focus of Mimran's answers at the beginning of his interrogation, which denied Ben-Eliezer's involvement, was mainly about the issue of granting a license to ACC And not around the later developments, i.e., Ben-Zaken's entry into the "picture of rights" and the need to transfer the drilling rights.
This conclusion is also consistent with Mimran's statement later in his interrogation, in which he noted that to the best of his recollection, Ben-Eliezer spoke with him while he was serving as a minister of detention until the end of the proceedings about Ben-Zaken's case, and asked him to assist Ben-Zaken in his affairs ACC And oil.
It is true that a continuous reading of the transcript of the interrogation shows that the description of the conversation with Ben-Eliezer was given gradually, and not decisively from the first moment, but taking into account the significant period of time that elapsed from the date of the events until the date of the interrogation, the gradual process does not in fact negate the authenticity of the statements.
In his testimony in court, and thus the defense is justified, Mimran's words regarding the memory of the conversation became more conclusive.
Mimran testified about the relationship he had with Ben-Eliezer over the years (in Ben-Eliezer's various positions), and noted as follows:
"Fouad Ben-Eliezer, may his memory be blessed, was the minister in charge of me, the subordination of the commissioner of oil affairs according to the law is directly to the minister of energy and national infrastructures and indeed I was subordinate, he was the minister of energy twice, among other things he was a minister during a period where something like, I don't know until 2009 for the last time, I don't remember exactly the dates, maybe you can check. In any case, the relationship between us was excellent, because Fouad Ben-Eliezer was a Jew who knew how to establish a warm relationship with everyone he came into contact with, and it is no wonder that even after he left the ministry, I took an interest and demanded that he be well when he was in poor health" (Prov. p. 294, s. 11).