Criminal Case (Haifa) 44064-11-20 State of Israel v. Shakib Abu Rukun - part 45

"The exercise of the authority to award damages by the court does not require a request by the prosecution, and in fact, the court is authorized to award damages even where the prosecution did not petition to do so (Lavi v.  State of Israel, para.  17 [published in Nevo] (March 6, 2016)).  Moreover, it should be noted that the compensation given by virtue of L, is "prior compensation without proof of the damage in a civil proceeding...  'At the expense of' the compensation that will come, if any" (Majdalawi v.  State of Israel, para.  9 [published in Nevo] (July 24, 2006)).  This is compensation that does not require a process of proving damage, and it is not supposed to accurately reflect the actual damage caused to the victim of the offense (Suleimanov v.  State of Israel, para.  69 [published in Nevo] (April 2, 2020)).  It is clear that the aforesaid does not render the accuser's duty to present to the court a certain factual basis, in order to enable the court to assess the amount of compensation that should be awarded, even if only by way of such an estimate."

101. In our case, the defendant admitted to the facts of the indictments, forgery and fraud, including the sums of money he fraudulently received from the various victims. The victims of the offense in this case are many, some of whom suffered direct pecuniary damage and some who did not.  Thus, for example, the persons who transferred sums of money to the defendant for the purpose of purchasing real estate on the basis of false representations were harmed, as well as the owners of the land who transferred the rights in the land they owned without their knowledge, or who were subjected to a different appeal cautionary note, people who were not acquainted, and even people whom the defendant represented in the course of his role as a lawyer in a real estate transaction, but who did not register in their name all the rights they had acquired, were harmed.  Instead, he registered them in the name of his wife, his father's cousin, or left them in the hands of his partner, Majida.
102. In view of the complexity of the case, I will not award compensation in accordance with the exact damage caused to each of the victims of the offense. Not only that, one of the complainants received part of the sum back from the forfeiture unit as part of an opening incentive and a Fatma case and one of the complainants sold land he owned in exchange for the purchase of other land that was promised to him, etc.  The actions are many and varied.
103. Therefore, the compensation that I will award is an initial remedy, "first aid" to the victims, since, as is well known, a compensation award in a criminal proceeding does not constitute an "end of the story" and does not block the way for the victims of the offense to receive full and accurate compensation, for their full damages, in the framework of the civil proceeding.
104. Moreover, some of the victims of the offense waived compensation, and submitted an affidavit on their behalf stating that the dispute between them and the defendant had been resolved. Therefore, I did not award them compensation as they requested.  The affidavits were submitted with consent and there is no dispute as to their content (referring to the complainants in the fourth charge - H/4, the sixth - H/3, the tenth - H/5 and the twelfth - H/6).
105. Not only that, I did not find with regard to compensation to distinguish between the consequences of the defendant's actions - whether "only" a warning note was recorded or if ownership was transferred, so I did not find it important in this matter in the fact that the ownership of Ze'ev Beckman's land (the victim of the offense that is the subject of the first indictment in the main case) was re-registered in his name following a lawsuit he filed by way of an opening motion. Beckman suffered and suffered mental anguish as a result of the defendant's actions, when he was forced to undergo a legal proceeding due to his advanced age and health condition (currently about 80 years old).  Indeed, as part of the opening incentive that he conducted, legal expenses in the amount of ILS 58,000 were awarded in his favor, but this sum does not prevent the award of compensation in his favor for the suffering and mental anguish caused to him as a result of the defendant's actions.
106. As to the amount of compensation that I will award to the victims of the offense, I have found it necessary to distinguish between the victims who transferred money to the defendant as a result of the misrepresentations - to whom I will award compensation in the amount of ILS 40,000, which is an appropriate initial remedy in their case, and the landowners - to whom I will award compensation in the amount of ILS 10,000 for the mental anguish caused to them as a result of the defendant's actions, when they discovered to their surprise that a warning note had been written on the land they owned or that ownership of them had been transferred. It is not superfluous to add in this context that as long as it is not proven otherwise before me, the injustice has not been corrected and warning notes are still written on most of the land.

With regard to the non-obvious cases in accordance with the above distinction, I have chosen to award compensation as follows - as for the victim of the offense that is the subject of the fifth indictment in the main case, the Rezek base, I will award ILS 40,000, since he sold land he owned in exchange for the purchase of other land that had been promised to him.  In the case of the victim Yaniv Abud, the victim of the offense that is the subject of the third indictment in the main case, I will award ILS 3,000, relative compensation for the land that was not registered in his name, when he purchased a plot of 500 square meters from Majda for ILS 25,000 and the defendant forged documents in order to register only 450 square meters in Yaniv Abud's name.  The defendant did this in order to leave 50 square meters of the land in Majda's hands, and based on forged documents, fraudulently transferred the ownership of the land in his name to Yaniv Abod in the land registry for only 450 square meters.  As for the victims of the offense that is the subject of the ninth indictment in the main case, Louis and Badie Kayuf, I will award ILS 40,000, since not only did the defendant not transfer the entire area they purchased in their name, but he went so far as to transfer this part in the name of his wife and father's cousin.  I will also award compensation identical to the compensation I determined for the landowners, in the sum of ILS 10,000, to Yoel and Atef Saker, the victims who are the subject of the seventh indictment in the main case, in whose name all the land they purchased was not transferred.  I will award identical compensation in the amount of ILS 10,000 to Jamal Kayuf, who sold to Atef Saker his rights in the seventh indictment, and is the victim of the offense that is the subject of the eighth indictment in the main case, where he purchased land in trust, and the defendant transferred it by conversion to another.  As to the second charge in the attached file, the indictment does not indicate that the purchasers, in whose favor a warning note was recorded, transferred sums of money, and therefore I awarded compensation only to the owners of the land, the heirs of the deceased Moshe and Leah Fishbein, who were registered on the land they owned, on which the warning notes were recorded.

107. In determining the amount of compensation, the Supreme Court consistently held that the defendant's situation and financial capacity do not serve as a criterion for the amount of compensation that the court must impose on him [see Criminal Appeal 5761/05 Majdalawi v. State of Israel (24 July 2006)].
108. In addition, I will impose an appropriate fine on the defendant in view of the economic nature of the offenses he committed and the need for deterrence in this regard (Criminal Appeal 4190/13 Samuel v. State of Israel (2014).  It was further held in this regard in criminal appeal 4919/14 Azoulay v.  the State of Israel (March 6, 2017) that "the deterrent advantage of the fine is expressed mainly in its imposition in economic offenses and offenses whose purpose is to derive material profit, and it is a means of ensuring that a sinner does not get a reward from his booty and that the crime is not worth"

Conclusion

109. On the basis of the aforesaid, I found that the defendant should be sentenced to one overall sentence for the crime attributed to him, in the middle part of the punishment complexes determined by me, as detailed below:
110. 6 years in prison to be served minus the days of detention in both cases , according to IPS records.
111. Conditional imprisonment for a period of 9 months for 3 years, and the condition is that the defendant will not commit one of the offenses of which he was convicted in the two cases, with the exception of offenses under the Income Tax Ordinance and the Real Estate Taxation Law.

• Conditional imprisonment for a period of 5 months for 3 years, and the condition is that the defendant will not commit one of the offenses of which he was convicted under the Income Tax Ordinance and the Real Estate Taxation Law.

1. Compensation for each of the victims of the offense as detailed below:
2. Victims of the offense in the first charge in the main case - ILS 40,000 (Lausanne and Fares Munir)
3. The victim of the offense in the first charge in the main case - ILS 10,000 (Ze'ev Beckman)
4. The victim of the offense in the second charge in the main case - ILS 40,000 (Fatma Qasem)
5. The victim of the offense in the third charge in the main case - ILS 3,000 (Yaniv Abud)
6. Victims of the offense in the fourth charge in the main case - ILS 10,000 (heirs of the late Avraham Ben Moshe)
7. The victims of the offense in the fifth charge in the main case - ILS 40,000 (Rezeq base, Amla Halabi, Tareq Hossisi)
8. The victim of the offense in the fifth charge in the main case - ILS 10,000 (Raphael Arie)
9. The victim of the offense in the seventh charge in the main case - ILS 10,000 (Yoel and Atef Saker)
10. The victim of the offense in the seventh and eighth charges in the main case - ILS 10,000 (Jamal Kayuf)
11. The victims of the offense in the ninth charge in the main case - ILS 40,000 (Louis Kayouf, Badie Kayuf, Fadi Al-Amir Al-Tayer)
12. The victim of the offense in the tenth, eleventh and twelfth charges - ILS 10,000 (Dan Cohen)
13. The victim of the offense in the eleventh charge in the main case - ILS 40,000 (Vabi Hilmi)
14. The victim of the offense in the first charge in the attached file - ILS 10,000 (Baha Kayuf)
15. The victims of the offense in the second charge in the attached file - ILS 10,000 (the heirs of the deceased Moshe and Leah Fishbein)
16. The victim of the offense in the third charge in the attached file - ILS 40,000 (Iyad Farhat)

The compensation for all victims of the offense will be paid in 20 equal and consecutive monthly installments, starting on June 1, 2026 and every 1 month thereafter.  The payment of the monthly compensation will be divided among all the victims of the offense, respectively and proportionally.  The accuser will submit to the court for approval the details of the victims and the manner of distribution by 09/04/26.  The financial compensation must be paid to the Center for the Collection of Fines and Fees at the Enforcement and Collection Authority, on the online website and/or by telephone and/or in cash upon presentation of an ID card at the nearest post office.

1. A fine of ILS 80,000 or 6 months imprisonment in lieu thereof. The fine will be paid in 20 equal and consecutive installments, starting on June 1, 2026 and every 1st of the following month.  The fine must be paid to the Center for the Collection of Fines and Fees at the Enforcement and Collection Authority, on the online website and/or through the telephone response and/or in cash upon presentation of an ID card at the nearest post office.

The right to appeal to the Haifa District Court within 45 days from today.