The aggravating circumstances stem from a breach of the fiduciary duty on the part of CPA Harpaz, in which the defendants were also partners.
The prosecution's arguments regarding the 18th charge
- In its summary, the prosecution confirms that it has not been able to prove who actually forged the signatures of the shareholders, but in its opinion this is of no importance.
As stated, when the indictment was prepared, the offense was not attributed to defendant 1 either, for fear that the prosecution did not have sufficient evidence to link it to the stage of establishing the companies, but after hearing the evidence, it was proven that defendant 1 was behind the registration of the companies and controlled them, from the beginning.
Defendant 3 is a joint operation, in light of the fact that the straw man, Meir Ben Shimon, was his good friend, and he was the one who gave his name to the Harpaz accountant. The prosecution reached this conclusion, in light of the fact that defendant 3 ordered the goods, which were released through the aforementioned straw companies, and therefore it is reasonable to assume that he provided the details of Ben Shimon and his ex-wife and knew about the registration of the companies, without their consent.
CPA Harpaz was convicted, according to his confession, in the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court for his actions in this affair, and as part of a plea bargain, the offenses of forging signatures and using forged documents were deleted in his case (Indictment, P/236).
Natan Harpaz testified that the person who asked him to establish the aforementioned companies, and gave the names of the fictitious shareholders, was Yehoshua Shlosh. Natan Harpaz added that Meir Ben Shimon did not appear at his office and he made do with Yehoshua Shlosh's words because the latter signed for him. The prosecution claims that there is no dispute that the two so-called signatories, Meir Ben Shimon and Jan Schwartzman, did not sign the companies' basic documents, nor the other documents related to the opening of VAT files.