The hearing will be held based on the facts of the amended indictment (dated June 26, 2017), which was amended after the conviction of the five defendants who received the bribe. This indictment relates to the count numbers in the amended indictment of March 12, 2017, hereinafter: the indictment). If the indictment is not dismissed, the defendant will be able to deny all the facts and allegations therein, as she announced that she intends to do. Therefore, I will first examine the summary of the charges as well as the facts relevant to the preliminary allegations as they arise from the indictment.
1.2 Summary of the facts of the indictment
Since some of the considerations considered in the framework of the preliminary arguments raised by the defendant relate to the severity of the offenses and the circumstances of their commission, I will briefly present the facts alleged in the indictment below. This decision is granted, assuming that these facts are proven.
According to the amended indictment, Siemens AG, a company in the field of electronics and electricity, whose business is concentrated in Germany (hereinafter: Siemens International), participated between 1995 and 2005 in various tenders of the IEC. Siemens International was a party to various negotiations and contracts of considerable financial scope between it and the IEC. Siemens International was and still is a major supplier of the IEC. Siemens Israel is a subsidiary of Siemens International and served as the local arm of Siemens International in Israel (when I refer to the two companies, they will be referred to as the Siemens Companies). Defendants 2-7 were officers of the Israel Electric Corporation, and as such they meet the definition of public servants. The officers of Siemens Israel who were involved in the acts attributed to the defendant in the indictment were, as noted, three: Oren Aharonson; Gunther Weiss and Yitzhak Hirsch. Mr. Weiss served as CEO of Siemens Israel until 2003. Prior to and after this position, Mr. Weiss held various positions at Siemens Worldwide. Mr. Aaronson served as the Director of the Energy Division at Siemens Israel from 1999 to 2002. After a year at Siemens Holland, in October 2003 Aaronson was appointed CEO of Siemens Israel, replacing Mr. Weiss. Mr. Hirsch succeeded Aaronson as Director of the Energy Division at Siemens Israel since 2002. H.H. Aharonson and Hirsch were in contact with many employees of the IEC and were friendly with some of them (sections 1-22 of the indictment).