Prosecutor grills Milchan over contradicting testimony in Netanyahu corruption trial

Deputy State Attorney Liat Ben Ari questions Arnon Milchan — a key witness in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial — for a second time, following several days of cross-examination by the premier’s defense attorney Amit Hadad.

During cross-examination, Milchan on several occasions contradicted testimony he gave in his primary testimony to the court and to the police during the criminal investigation, benefiting Netanyahu’s account of the case and creating problems for the prosecution.

Ben Ari points out to Milchan that he said in his primary testimony that the volume of cigars and champagne he gave to Netanyahu and his wife Sara increased in accordance with the requests of the couple.

In cross-examination however, Milchan agreed with Netanyahu defense attorney Amit Hadad’s assertion that he had never counted how many bottles of champagne and how many cigars he gave and that he didn’t know if the volume of gifts grew or not.

Milchan answers that he had “felt” the volume of gifts was increasing but that he did not recall the exact numbers.

Ben Ari also notes that in his primary testimony Milchan said the requests for gifts by the Netanyahus had bothered him, and that he had thought if he didn’t bring gifts he would be less wanted at the prime minister’s residence.

In cross-examination, however, Ben Ari pointed out, Milchan had said he had given the gifts happily, out of love.

Responding to the contradiction, Milchan says “I wasn’t aware what amount [of gifts] was ok and what was not. I wasn’t sure it wasn’t crossing the line.”