The witness, Mr. Oren: That's right, I knew it. This was the company's accounting policy, which was also backed by the accountant with whom we sat before the approval by the board of directors and the signing of the report(s)."
Similarly, in the continuation of his interrogation, Mr. Oren admits that the accounting policy did not "surprise" him in January 2011 (Transcript, p. 819, questions 3-12):
"My question is, could it be, since you were also asked how David Bondi reacted and how you reacted, that after all, this is this meeting in January, where you first became acquainted with this thing, perhaps.
The witness, Mr. Oren: No, in the yeshiva, I repeat. Prior to the approval of the semi-annual financial statements for 2010, there were meetings with the accountant, even if there may not be some kind of record or something, but they sit with the accountant, with the balance sheet committee, and discuss the issue of the financial statements. And we saw, we were already presented at the time that a deficit was expected, the results were not good, and that towards the end of the year a large deficit was expected, and it stemmed from the business results and the deals that took place. And we knew that policy, it wasn't something that suddenly became apparent to me in January."
- Further interrogation of Mr. Oren, the chairman of the company's board of directors, reveals that although he was surprised by the size of the deficit, he was not surprised by the very accounting record that was known and worked in the same way for many years, long before he arrived at Agrexco (Transcript, p. 821, questions 4-14):
"A: I was surprised by the size of that meeting.
Q: In that meeting, what does that mean?
A: I was surprised by the size of the deficit at a meeting in January.
Q: 2011.
A: But I've been familiar with this model, this policy all along.
Q: Absolutely fine.
A: There was no surprise from the policy, or as if there was something new. Everything was known and worked for years in the same way, long before I came.