The witness, Mr. Hormaro: After I finished renovating the hotel, it turned out that there was a closure order, but I wasn't interested in the closing order... As far as we're concerned, the previous owners didn't invest a shekel in the hotel. I invested in this hotel, I took consultants, I took a construction engineer, I took an architect, I took interior design, I invested 30 million shekels, I worked according to organized plans. As far as I'm concerned, while I worked in an orderly manner, there's no reason in the world, I opened a new hotel. It's not the same hotel. When I opened a new hotel, there's usually a year since the opening of the hotel, a year to get a license. When I came to get a business license, the municipality, most of whom were all of them, would have worked for Walid Abulafia, like the temporary permit he had for a business license for 15 years, and they continued to work for Abulafia. In this case, this person is a righteous man here who was sitting here [referring to the witness Edelstein]."
- Afterwards, the accuser's counsel and then the court again asked defendant 2 why he operated a business knowing that the business did not hold a license. Defendant 2 insisted that the lack of a license was not justified but depended on the effects of Abulafia on the licensing procedures in the municipality. As he put it (p. 72, questions 28-33, pp. 73, questions 1-8):
"... I worked everything in an orderly manner. A construction engineer, a certified electrician, I brought in all the consultants, everything was in order and order. There was a person here who had an interest in this hotel never opening. His name is Walid Abulafia, and Walid Abulafia didn't succeed in that. I opened the hotel in 2021 and 2022, and I went to get a business license. When I came to get a business license, they kept refused, claiming that I had a problem, I have a problem with the engineering department. Why was there a problem with the engineering department, because at the time we had the problem with the referee with Yariv, first of all between 2020 and 2022 the hotel was closed because it was there, there was Corona so the hotel was closed. When I came to open it, I asked for business licenses again and asked several times, they always said there was a problem with the engineering department. And the problem of the engineering department was solved, but they still didn't let me do it. In other words, the municipality knowingly, the fattest people who received a lot of bribes from Mr. Walid Abulafia, did everything possible not to give a business license."
- Later, the accuser asked why he did not seek to delay the execution of the previous order. The defendant explained that there was no need to delay the execution of the order because the hotel had undergone such a significant renovation that it was in fact not the same business. In his words (p. 73, questions 25-27, p. 74, questions 1-2):
"Attorney Panso Lavi: At the time of the offense he was open, contrary to an existing judicial order that you deny?