"... But I want to point out, Honorable Judge, one of the most important things, with absolute certainty, Honorable Judge, I say this 100% that my lawyers who handled this matter in court knew about the loan to Fouad before giving the testimony that Fouad gave in court, the Honorable Judge, they knew about it and when they knew that Fouad reported, they knew it from me, Honorable Judge, And what happened is that as far as I know, they also briefed him in terms of behavior, in terms of things about this issue of loans, it came up in these briefings..." (Prov. p. 1254, s. 22).
- A comparison of the defendant's testimony with the testimony of his counsel shows that the way the defendant presented the matter is far from reflecting the full picture.
Attorney Sharon, who was the one who first spoke with the defendant about the possibility of Ben-Eliezer's testimony, and who decided on Ben-Eliezer's "selection" from the list of potential witnesses that was formulated with the defendant, gave a version that was inconsistent with the defendant's version.
And this is from the testimony of Adv. Sharon:
"Towards the end of the questions, Mr. Ben-Eliezer was asked by the State Attorney's Office: In light of the close relationship between you, did it turn out that Avraham gave any kind of financial support to any of your election campaigns at any stage? The witness says: No. Nope. And then Michal whispers in my ear: He didn't support the campaign, but he did give a loan. It's something that I, at least didn't know, didn't know existed. I am going a little further and I will go back, because I did not know of its existence" (Prov. p. 1551, s. 1).
Attorney Porat, who did not take part in the preparation of the affidavits but only joined the team close to the evidence stage, also explained that in light of Ben-Eliezer's public duties, he was afraid of "surprises" on the witness stand and therefore conducted an inquiry with Attorney Slomonovich.
And this is what he said:
"The CourtQ: Why did your concern or question arise in advance? Why did you put it on the table in advance? Out of what?