"Question: ... Why is there a need for quotes from several companies when it comes to equipment or service in an accounting contract, since the prices are fixed in the contract of the accountant, and the obligation of the aerospace industry anchored in the agreement is to buy it at a fixed price from you...
Answer: True, but IAI is constantly checking the market to see that the price is indeed the cheapest.
Question: But there is no point in examining whether she must buy from the supplier in the agreement in any case.
Answer: In principle, you are right, but there is always the feeling that they can buy the equipment from another supplier. And as evidenced by the Blueray project that we talked about yesterday, IAI ordered the equipment from a competitor, Mevi, and not from Harel as stipulated in the agreement... At IAI, they are simply taking advantage of the fact that they are not a pure government ministry, in order to go into the gray area, that is, to purchase equipment that is contracted through suppliers who are not under contract... If I, as a supplier, miss a big project because they found a cheaper supplier, I could lose up to 20% of sales that year and even more, about 25%, which is a big risk. I have to be focused, have a knife between my teeth, if you understand what I mean, constantly check what is happening with the competitors" (P/222, paras. 15-34, underline added, and see the reference in paragraph 96 above to Zeiger's testimony on the matter).
We also saw above that in his interrogation, Zeiger linked the competitive concern – which arose due to the conduct of the civil appeal and its requests for price quotes, its "whims" in his words – and his very presence in the interrogation room on suspicion of prohibited coordination. According to him, due to this conduct of the civil appeal, which, in his view, violates the Comptroller General's agreement, "... Here I am sitting here because of this. or at least it has a significant part in this matter" (P/222, paras. 55-56, after the description in paras. 40-54). It is clear from this that Zeiger tried to explain the coordination in relation to which he was interrogated between Harel and its competitors – including V and Triple C – in the violating conduct of the civil appeal (see paragraph 97 above; and see also Zeiger's words in P/220, paras. 598-604 there, in connection with the alleged coordination conduct in Balam Galactica, the subject of the tenth indictment).