Prestige had a signed lease agreement for a period of about 10 years with the owner of the property where the nursing home was operated. In addition, Prestige had "a hospital license from the Ministry of Health and an agreement with the Ministry of Health for the provision of geriatric hospitalization services in accordance with the Ministry of Health's tender dealing with the provision of such hospitalization services."
It was Weisbord Holdings that was the shareholder of Vikra, while he served as a director of Prestige (from the date of its acquisition by Weisbord Holdings) and did not own its shares, and during the period during which he served as a director, and even taking into account the mandatory regulation of the Ministry of Health, the nursing home was managed through an orderly and professional "managerial avenue", including an administrative manager, a chief physician, a nursing manager and more (paragraphs 9-11 of Uri's affidavit).
- According to him, he did not know that Preochet's activity "would cease abruptly, and no risk was taken in operating the place," and in any case there was no thought or expectation that Prefecture would not meet its obligations.
In this context, he argues that Prestige has encountered difficulties due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the infection that began in the nursing home, which caused the death of a significant percentage of the nursing home residents, and the evacuation of healthy residents from the nursing home on the orders of the Ministry of Health. As a result of the aforesaid, the number of residents in the nursing home decreased significantly and there was a significant decline in luxury income, as a result of which prestige lagged behind in rent payments, and as a result the landlord initiated legal proceedings against it.
Despite the aforesaid, Uri claims, Prestige succeeded, with great efforts and the accompaniment of professionals, in coping with the difficulties and even reached an arrangement between Prestige and the landlord regarding the payment of the rent, but in June 2021, the landlord "surprised, contrary to all expectations and unilaterally, announced the early termination of the agreement, with 60 days' prior notice, and the transfer of the operation of the premises to other operators" (paragraph 26 of Uri's affidavit).
- Uri argues that although this step by the owner of the property surprised him as a "complete surprise", he did not for a moment fear that Luxury would not meet its various obligations in view of the assets and rights it had, including the right to receive payments from the Ministry of Health and new operators of the nursing home, who confirmed to him that a reckoning would be made between them and Prestige, and that after they began operating the place, "all of the said payments will be made" (paragraphs 27 and 31 of Uri's affidavit).
He further argues that all the rights that reached prestige at that time exceeded its debts, and even though there were temporary difficulties in receiving funds from the Ministry of Health, which stemmed from "procedural problems", it was clear that the Ministry of Health owed funds to Prestige, and that when they were transferred to Prestige, they would be used to pay its debts, if they were (paragraph 32 of Uri's affidavit).
- He also adds that contrary to the plaintiff's claim, he did not "durate" and actually tried to speed up the receipt of funds from the Ministry of Health.
According to him, after the termination of the lease agreement with the property owner, and the cessation of luxury activity as the operator of the nursing home, he continued to "act to arrange the termination of the company's activity", including arranging payments to suppliers and collecting payments due to prestige, and even spoke with the plaintiff's representative in an attempt to formulate an arrangement for immediate partial payment instead of waiting for full payment later, but the plaintiff's representative refused.
- According to him, in November 2021 he was offered a job as an analyst (employee) at the Menorah insurance company, and that same month David approached him and expressed interest in purchasing a prestige, and ultimately, the agreement for the sale of shares to David was signed on December 21, 2021, in the course of normal business and in an orderly manner.
Uri clarifies that the agreement for the sale of shares to David was signed because he personally preferred to work for the Menorah insurance company, and also believed that after the funds were received from the Ministry of Health, including from the Ministry of Health and the new operators of the nursing home, and David paid the suppliers what they were entitled to, significant payments would be transferred to him.