Charge No. 14
- On September 28, 1999, defendant 1 submitted to the Customs Authority, on behalf of Schloss and through the customs broker "Shai Customs Agents (1997) Ltd.", a license for the import of goods into Israel of the type of microwave ovens. According to the list, the value of the goods is $34,272, and attached to it was a document pretending to be a sales account by Planas S.P.R.L. , which is supposed to be the supplier of goods. The prosecution claims that the aforementioned goods were not purchased from Planas S.P.R.L. , or Shunde Glanz Electric Appliance Factory Ltd of Messin, for $45,024. On September 21, 1999, defendant 1, through Shlomo Metuk, sold his rights in the aforementioned goods to the "Kitchen Line Ltd." On various dates thereafter, Kitchen Line Ltd. submitted to the Customs Authority eight additional false records, to which a copy of the false sales account was attached, for the purpose of releasing the aforementioned goods. In doing so, defendant 1 falsely declared that the value of goods was lower than the real value, and thus reduced the amount of import taxes that he would have been liable for, had it not been for the fraud.
In these acts, defendant 1 misled the customs officials, defrauded the State Treasury and evaded the payment of import taxes in the total amount of NIS 42,212.
The prosecution further claims that defendant 1 received the proceeds from the sale of his rights in the goods, fraudulently and under aggravated circumstances, using the false sales account, with the knowledge and intention that the people of "Kitchen Line Ltd." would submit to the customs authorities false lists, relying on the false sale account, for the purpose of releasing the goods.
The prosecution's arguments regarding the charges 9-14
- The main argument of the prosecution is that the letters of credit that were opened in favor of the suppliers were honored and they received their money, but the goods were released from customs, using false import receipts, in which the value of the goods was reduced, in order to evade the payment of import taxes. The receipts submitted to the customs were attached with forged and false supplier accounts, which are not the accounts according to which the goods were imported to Israel. The identity of the real supplier and the correct price of the goods, as it was actually paid, were proved by letters of credit, which were submitted by representatives of the banks, which are not in dispute. The prosecution claims that the common denominator of all the aforementioned charges (with the exception of indictment 12) is that in all of them the fictitious company named "Mand Electric Ltd.", as the one that ordered the goods from the supplier, and in all cases the plaintiffs were released through the shell company "Schloss".
Defendant 1 confirmed in his statement to the police (P/321) that these were false doubtful accounts in which the price was reduced, but attributed the forgery to Elhanan Tenenbaum, who was at the time in Hezbollah captivity in Lebanon. He did not mention, not even a hint, Mand Electric and its being a member of the Palestinian Authority. In addition, defendant 1 did not mention his suppressed version in court, according to which it was the adoption of transactions, but agreed with the investigator that it was fraudulent, the purpose of which was to reduce taxes. His claim in the interrogation was that he did not commit the offense, but rather another person.