The testimonies indicate that the Carmel Brothers Assets Company in a tax appeal (hereinafter: "the Brothers' Assets") was also facing a similar situation vis-à-vis the Tel Aviv Municipality, in relation to its property. According to Carmel's version, at that time the subject of the lease was discussed a lot among the various lessees and he received a request from Mr. Kotler. (p. 161, lines 21-22, p. 162, lines 3-5, p. 166, lines 27-32) "This gentleman has come into me... Mr. Kotler said that I take care of groups that go to the Tel Aviv municipality. I looked at him, I said to him, "What are you doing?", he says to me "I take care of this matter", I said "I need a lawyer", so he says "Listen, you may not even need a lawyer because we are a company that handles these things and that's fine" (p. 163, lines 9-12), ... "He told me that I might not even need a lawyer because he has a lot of connections and he, I estimated that it was going to be" (p. 162, lines 24-25).... "From there it began, he came in and he introduced himself as a team manager" (p. 166, lines 31-32).
Carmel reiterated that Kotler had mentioned to him that he might not need a lawyer, and noted: "A guy comes and introduces himself, he says to me, 'Maybe I'll release you from a lawyer at all, you won't have to, it can be as well, and I can arrange it for you because I have connections in the municipality and I know how to work there and I know all the treasurers there, the money, I'm in the affairs there, The Honorable Judge Vered: But on the same day you also signed for the lawyer and there is some contradiction here. The witness, Mr. Carmel: He told me that I might need a lawyer, maybe not, and then it's an option. And also in percentages, you see that with a lawyer it's a different percentage, and without a lawyer it's a different percentage. In other words, it was an option, and it put my mind at ease" (p. 173, lines 1-9).
This is also reflected in the authorization document: "He signed me a document that he is entitled to carry out all the actions vis-à-vis the municipality. In other words, he received permission to carry it out.(p. 174, lines 21-22).