The Prosecution Case
Klaus's testimony (transcript of September 22, 2022)
Main Inquiry
- Klaus confirmed what was stated in the indictment, and noted that it was an unpaid check (p. 329). (It should be noted that there is no dispute in this matter; Klaus's check for Yaniv Parquets No. 5, NIS 265, P/43, was seized during a search of the defendant's home on January 1, 2018). Klaus admitted at his trial that the check was part of the benefits he gave to the defendant. He never met Yaniv, nor did he tell him to issue a tax invoice in his name. Klaus confirmed that he did not receive any loan from the defendant and that this is not a case of repayment of a loan (p. 370).
Notice of Yaniv Saadi (P/47)
- Yaniv's statement to the police dated October 23, 2019 was submitted with consent (P/47). In his statement, he stated that he had installed parquet in the defendant's apartment in Pardes Hanna about a year earlier. At the end of the work, the defendant told him to issue an invoice for the work. Yaniv gave the police a tax invoice in the amount of NIS 4,500 before VAT for Klaus earthworks renovations dated October 24, 2018 (P/48). The defendant told him to issue the invoice in Klaus's name, which he did not know personally. Yaniv did not receive payment for the work, and about a month later he was able to contact the defendant. The defendant informed Yaniv that he had been arrested, all his money had been seized, and the check for Yaniv's work was also taken from him.
The Haganah Affair
The Defendant's Testimony
Main Investigation (Transcript of January 23, 2023)
- The defendant claimed that during the period relevant to the second incident he had carried out a renovation of the penthouse, after a pipe explosion. He decided that Klaus was the most suitable contractor for the matter "because it was his field to do renovations at a good level", Klaus received discounts from suppliers and also because Klaus owed him money (p. 503). The defendant asked Klaus to add the work in the apartment in Pardes Hanna to the renovation project in his house. He asked Klaus to speak with a contractor who had worked for him in the past outside the framework of the IPS (i.e., Yaniv – M.B.) in order to install the parquet in the apartment in Pardes Hanna, and suggested that the two (the defendant and Klaus) take account of each other at the expense of the renovation in the penthouse (p. 503). As to the claim that he contacted Klaus after the renovation in Pardes Hanna and asked him to pay Yaniv for his work, the defendant replied: "They got along and they are working together until now, it was part of the renovation that Assi was managing at my house" (p. 504). The defendant confirmed ("it could be") that Klaus had given him a check on Yaniv's order (p. 504).
Cross-examination (transcript of March 27, 2023, and September 19, 2023)
- The defendant confirmed that Klaus's payment to Yaniv was part of the repayment of a loan that the defendant gave to Klaus (p. 522, the circumstances of the alleged loan were detailed in the framework of the ninth indictment – a loan of $5,000 on the occasion of Klaus' trip abroad). Several months passed without Klaus repaying the loan, and the defendant asked to get his money back. At the same time, he began renovating the penthouse, following a pipe explosion in an event in September. The loan money was used as payment for the work Klaus performed, in a kind of offset: Klaus returned the money to him by carrying out the renovation (March 27, 2023, pp. 523-524).
- The defendant confirmed that the work in the penthouse was not related to the work in Pardes Hanna, but claimed that Klaus was also responsible for the work in Pardes Hanna, which was carried out by Yaniv (p. 525). To the claim that Yaniv and Klaus testified that they had never met and did not work together, the defendant replied that until now they had been working together and that he was sure of it (March 27, 2023, p. 526). In response to the fact that Yaniv and Klaus both stated that they did not know each other, the defendant testified that the two were lying (March 27, 2023, p. 527).
- Call No. 5843 of 8.10.2018 at 11:45 - A conversation between the defendant and Yaniv, in which Yaniv asks the defendant whether to issue an invoice for work in Pardes Hanna, and the defendant tells Yaniv that he will write to him on WhatsApp in whose name to issue an invoice.
Conversation No. 5851 of October 8, 2018 at 13:01 - A conversation between the defendant and Klaus, in which Klaus tells the defendant, "The machine is on its way to you." The defendant denied the claim that in this conversation he coordinated with Klaus to bring him the check for Yaniv (September 19, 2023, p. 535).