Judges in Netanyahu trial to review Milchan’s account to police amid testimony gaps

The Jerusalem District Court judges presiding over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial instructed the prosecution on Wednesday to submit the entirety of the police testimony of Arnon Milchan, a key witness in the trial, amid alleged discrepancies between his account to officers during the investigation and on the witness stand this week.

Deputy State Attorney Liat Ben Ari had asked to submit into evidence excerpts from Milchan’s police interrogation — particularly remarks relating to alleged help from Netanyahu on obtaining a long-term US visa — but the judges denied the request, according to Hebrew media reports. They opted instead to receive Milchan’s full testimony that he gave to police.

Milchan, a businessman and Hollywood producer, is in the second week of his trial testimony, most of which has been under cross-examination from Netanyahu’s defense attorney Amit Hadad in Case 1000, which alleges that Netanyahu abused his power to advance Milchan’s interests in helping him obtain a long-term US visa, advancing legislation that could have given Milchan tax breaks, and promoting an important telecommunications merger, all while receiving lavish gifts from Milchan worth NIS 462,000 ($127,000).

Milchan is set to testify on Thursday under questioning by the prosecution, according to the Hebrew media reports.

Milchan has been testifying from the Old Sea Hotel in Brighton, United Kingdom, via a live broadcast to the Jerusalem District Court, where Netanyahu is on trial for fraud and breach of trust in three separate cases, as well as bribery in one of them.

Over the course of his testimony, he has denied getting help from Netanyahu in obtaining a long-term US visa in any way, contradicting testimony given by his personal assistant Hadas Klein last year that Netanyahu had set up a phone call between her boss and then-US secretary of state John Kerry that helped secure a new 10-year visa.

This followed a 2013 interview with the “Uvda” current affairs show in which Milchan acknowledged that he had worked for the Israel Bureau of Scientific Relations, which sought to obtain scientific and technical knowhow for secret defense programs. Following that interview, he was granted a one-year visa extension by the US authorities instead of the ten-year visa he had previously received.

He later received the 10-year visa.

Milchan also denied in his testimony on Sunday that Netanyahu provided him with assistance in advancing a proposed merger of the Keshet and Reshet television networks, a move which could have benefited him financially.

Questioned on the issue by Netanyahu’s defense attorney on day six of Milchan’s testimony, Milchan averred that the proposal for merging the channels had merely been vague ideas that never significantly advanced, and that the prime minister had regardless not helped him on the matter.

Other key witnesses, such as former senior Netanyahu aide Shlomo Filber, have testified, however, that the prime minister did attempt to help his friend Milchan — who gave luxury gifts worth hundreds of thousands of shekels to Netanyahu — advance the Keshet-Reshet merger.

Milchan, who owned shares in Channel 10 (since changed to Channel 13), operated by Reshet — testified that the merger of Keshet and Reshet did not advance very far.

In testimony given in February last year, Filber said that Netanyahu had told him to assist Milchan with regulatory issues relating to the merger.

In his testimony on Sunday, Milchan said that he had informed Netanyahu about the idea “in his role as communications minister,” which the prime minister had held at the time, and that the premier had been interested in the idea, but he concurred with Hadad that the proposal never got far enough to request regulatory approval.

Upon leaving the hotel on Wednesday following another day of proceedings, Milchan was quoted by Ynet as saying that “everything is fine,” in response to questions from reporters on the discrepancies in his testimony.

“There are no gaps in the testimony. There are gaps in the dates, but not in substance,” Milchan said, adding that he was “not afraid of being declared a hostile witness.”

Ben Ari told the court on Wednesday that “between the main investigation and the counter investigation, significant gaps were discovered in quite a number of points,” and asked permission to submit testimony to the court that would show the development of Milchan’s comments, Haaretz reported.

Ben Ari said Milchan han been questioned by police a total of six times starting in 2016, once under caution.

In his questioning of Milchan this week, Hadad also asked about other aspects of Case 1000, specifically asking about whether Netanyahu or his wife Sara had ever given Milchan or his family gifts — in an attempt to demonstrate that the relationship between Milchan and the prime minister had been one of friendship and not transactional.

Milchan said that Sara had indeed given his wife Amanda and their children gifts and concurred with Hadad’s assertion that this was a sign of their mutual friendship, given that Milchan’s wealth meant he did not need anyone to buy him anything.

In his previous testimony under questioning by the police, Milchan had derided the idea that Netanyahu had ever given him anything.

“Do you want me to fall on the floor from laughter?” he said in his testimony at the time. Asked about that comment last week, Milchan said he had made the remark because he had felt “pressured” by the investigator and had requested to have it removed from the record.

Asked about his testimony last week that he and the Netanyahus had used code words for the champagne, cigars and clothing that he had bought for them, Milchan said that they did so just as a game and not out of any desire to hide or cover anything up.

Milchan also denied that Sara had ever complained if he visited them and did not bring champagne.

“There’s was no such thing,” he said.

Sara Netanyahu, the premier’s wife, has been attending Milchan’s testimony in person every day.

On Monday, Ben Ari revealed that Milchan told her he feels uncomfortable with her presence in the room.

Last week, Ben Ari had accused Sara Netanyahu of communicating through gestures and expressions with Milchan during his testimony and also objected to an earlier incident when the premier’s wife embraced and briefly spoke with Milchan in the hall before his testimony began.

Netanyahu was indicted for fraud and breach of trust in three cases. The prime minister also faces a bribery charge in one of them, Case 4000, over allegations that he promised regulatory benefits for telecom giant Bezeq in order to secure positive media coverage from the Walla news site, which at the time was owned by the same family.

Netanyahu has steadfastly maintained his innocence throughout the investigation and trial, claiming the charges were the result of a biased media and police force, overseen by a weak attorney general. Both the police commissioner at the time of investigation and the attorney general during the indictment were appointed by Netanyahu.