Subsequently, the Ministry of Culture and Sport made a competitive appeal to accountants, by means of "retrieval" from the database of accountants in the Accountant General. On May 11, 2015, the members of the tenders committee approved the engagement with the accounting firm Alkalai-Monrov, and on May 14, 2015, Ofer Alkalai, CPA (hereinafter: "Alkalai CPA") was appointed to perform the position.
- On December 30, 2015, CPA Alkalay submitted the investigation report on the deficit in the Football Association (hereinafter: "Alkalai Report") to the Minister of Culture and Sport and the Director General of the Ministry of Culture and Sports. According to the report, the excess payment to the teams, which originated from transfers made in excess of the amounts actually received from the broadcasting franchisees and from the Toto, amounted to NIS 38.5 million. The recommendations of the Alkalai report were as follows:
"A. The investigation report does not constitute a legal opinion, but rather a description of the facts as understood by me. In light of this, insofar as the Ministry decides to make operative decisions regarding the factors detailed in the report, I recommend that the facts, determinations and conclusions be examined from a legal perspective.
It is recommended to re-examine the issue of conflicts of interest inherent in the Association's activities as well as the issue of the proper corporate governance in the Association.
- Action must be taken immediately to strengthen all the control and supervision mechanisms of the Association, in order to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future in the Football Association" (Alkalai Report, which was attached as Appendix 1 to the request to certify a derivative claim, at p. 48).
On the same day, the Director General of the Ministry of Culture and Sport sent a letter to the then Chairman of the Association, Mr. Ofer Eini, stating that: "[...] The Association is requested to present, within 30 days, an orderly and detailed work plan, which includes operative steps to deal with the findings that emerge from the report and a timetable for their implementation" (Letter from the Director General of the Ministry to the Chairman of the Association dated December 30, 2015, attached as Appendix 3 to the State's announcement dated October 29, 2017).
- On February 16, 2016, the Association's management decided to receive recommendations from an external attorney regarding the course of action required as a result of the Alkalai report. For this purpose, it appointed Adv. Ehud Sol (hereinafter: "Adv. Sol"). In accordance with what is stated in the letter of appointment and as appears from the report compiled by Adv. Sol (hereinafter: "Sol Report"), the legal examination conducted in the framework of the report relied on the findings of the Alkalai Report, and no independent investigation was conducted (see paragraph 2 of the Sol Report, which was attached as Appendix 4 to the request to certify a derivative claim). At the same time, the Sol report clarified that:
"This opinion constitutes a supplementary document to the Alkalai report, and does not replace it. It is based on its findings without checking their correctness, and the opinion must be read in one piece with the Alkalai report. At the same time, in cases where I believed that the findings of the report should lead to conclusions other than those reached by CPA Alkalai in the framework of the report, I did not consider myself bound by the conclusions of the report and reached other conclusions" (ibid., in section 3). emphases in the original).