It should be noted that Mr. Pinchas Basson also handled the Sevilla company, whose name is not mentioned in this indictment. While there was no dispute regarding Yehoshua Chelouche's activity in relation to these companies, there is a dispute as to whether defendant 1 was also involved in the operation of the companies.
Pinchas Basson testified that Defendant 1 appeared before him, and introduced himself as Haim Zaruk, whom he recognized in the photo identification lineup, as part of the interrogation, and also in the courtroom. According to Basson, Yehoshua Shlosh told him that Defendant 1 "He will take matters to him... The management... of how to manage the cases" (p. 1748 of the transcript, paras. 2-6).
Pinchas Basson added that defendant 1 told him that he was a partner in all of the aforementioned companies (ICT, JCC and Sevilla Company), "And Shlosh told me to take instructions from him" (p. 1748 of the transcript, s. 14).
At this stage, the prosecutor announced that the prosecution may ask the court to convict defendant 1 of the offense of impersonating another person, under section 441 of the Penal Law, which was not attributed to him in the indictment.
To the question of how he would have communicated with Defendant 1, Pinchas Basson said "He would call me, send me a fax about invoices I told me to issue and about the VAT report, how to report" (p. 1751 of the transcript, paras. 25-26).
Pinchas Basson also mentioned telephone numbers given to him by Defendant 1, such as 050-3343315.
Regarding the day-to-day operations, Pinchas Basson stated that he received a great deal of material from defendant 1, including notes and invoices, regarding the three companies.
It should be noted that according to Pinchas Basson, Defendant 1 initially identified himself as Avi, and later corrected himself, stating that his name was Haim Zaruk.
Counsel for defendant 1 asserts strongly that Pinchas Basson is an unreliable witness, and that no credence should be attributed to his claim that defendant 1 impersonated him as a discarded life.