Leshem, who was Peretz's supervisor, also testified that he did not know about the correspondence and that Shahar had transferred the prices to the competitors, and that if he had known about this, he would have stopped the process at that moment and would not have agreed to it (p. 2116, paras. 8-13, paras. 6-7). This testimony was also reliable, not contradicted, and must be accepted.
- In these circumstances, the parties to the restrictive arrangement also have the elements of the offense of fraudulent receipt: fraud in the very submission of proposals in a tender proceeding, while failing to disclose the coordination of the proposals and by misrepresentation (see paragraphs 27-28 above); Acceptance of the matter – Maman's assumption and the civil appeal regarding the validity of the bids and the proceeding, and the possibility of continuing the online pricing process (see paragraph 29 above), where the causal connection arises from the above testimonies, which show that had it not been for the concealment, the procurement entities would have acted differently. Since the acts of fraud are based on another offense – a restrictive arrangement – while harming the competitive process of a public body (see also Shohat, p. 6735, para. 21) and public funds, taking into account the financial scope (approximately $400,000), and in view of the systematic nature of the acts (when this consideration does not apply to Shochat and Matrix), these are aggravating circumstances, in accordance with the criteria set out in the case law (see paragraph 31 above).
Commander Oranim - Reference to the Defense's Arguments
The Defense's Arguments - General
- The defense arguments raised by the defendants differed from one another.
Wei and Harel argued, inter alia, that Balam Oranim was also a fictitious pricing on the face of it, since even before the publication of the Balam it was absolutely clear that Wei was the winner and that the Civil Appeal knew this; that there was no feasibility of competition in the Oranim Army; and that the entire procurement process was conducted in an improper manner and with defects.