On last day of testimony, Milchan reverses himself, says PM did assist with US visa

Hollywood producer and businessman Arnon Milchan said on Thursday that despite statements he made under cross-examination, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had tried to assist him obtain a long-term US visa.

Milchan’s testimony to the Jerusalem District Court in Netanyahu’s corruption trial ended on Thursday after ten days of questioning from both the prosecution and defense, with the prosecution seeking to undo some of the damage Milchan’s time in court has done to the criminal case against the premier.

During cross-examination last week, Milchan contradicted some of the testimony he had previously given to the police and the court. In his final days of testimony this week, Deputy State Attorney Liat Ben Ari did manage to restore Milchan’s original account on some, but not all, of the issues where he had deviated from his first narrative.

The divergence in Milchan’s testimony to the court, which benefited Netanyahu on several aspects of the criminal trial against him, prompted Ben Ari on Wednesday to make a dramatic request that only his testimony to the police be submitted as evidence, a request that the court rejected.

As a result, Ben Ari grilled Milchan for several hours on Thursday morning about the discrepancies in his account.

Milchan is a key witness in Case 1000 against Netanyahu, in which it is alleged that the prime minister committed fraud and breach of trust for having accepted NIS 462,000 ($124,000) in luxury gifts from Milchan and in return assisting him with his personal and business interests.

Milchan’s testimony, which he gave from the Old Sea Hotel in Brighton in the UK due to health problems, unfolded in a generally ill-tempered atmosphere between the prosecution and Netanyahu’s defense team, and amid growing frustration by the judges with their behavior.

His testimony was also beset by allegations from the prosecution that Sara Netanyahu was trying to unduly influence Milchan’s testimony by attending every hearing in the hotel room where he testified, and Milchan’s own comments that Sara’s presence and Netanyahu’s attendance at the Jerusalem District Court made him feel uncomfortable.

Following strident objections on Thursday by Netanyahu’s defense attorney Amit Hadad, Ben Ari’s opening salvo of questions was rejected by the presiding judges who refused to allow several lines of questioning, including asking Milchan about the different, although not necessarily contradictory, motives for which he said he had lavished gifts on Netanyahu and his wife Sara.

But the court allowed her to proceed with questions she posed about contradictions in Milchan’s testimony over the volume of gifts he gave to the Netanyahu couple, who initiated the gift giving, and the key issue of whether or not the prime minister helped him get a 10-year US visa.

This is one of the central allegations of the prosecution for Netanyahu having unduly used his authority, in this case giving assistance to Milchan after having received luxury gifts from him worth hundreds of thousands of shekels.

During his primary testimony, Milchan stated that he had asked Netanyahu for help on the issue and that the prime minister had recommended he speak with then-US Ambassador Dan Shapiro and said that he himself would look into the issue. Milchan added that he subsequently got a call from Shapiro telling him the issue was being resolved.

But in cross-examination, Milchan had stated that the only thing Netanyahu had done was to tell him to speak to Shapiro, adding that otherwise the prime minister had not helped him get the visa in any way and told him that he could not do so.

Asked on Thursday by Ben Ari about this apparent contradiction, Milchan returned to his original version of events, saying that Netanyahu “had indeed spoken with US Ambassador Shapiro about my visa.”

Ben Ari also pointed out to Milchan that he said in his primary testimony to the court 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 Hadad’s assertion that he had never counted how much champagne and how many cigars he gave, and that he didn’t know if the volume of gifts grew or not.

Milchan answered on Thursday “I felt that the amount was increasing,” but said he did not recall the exact quantities of gifts he gave.

Ben Ari also noted 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 that Milchan had said he had happily given the gifts out of love.

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

On another apparent contradiction, Ben Ari pointed out that during primary testimony Milchan had told the court he had initially bought Netanyahu expensive shirts at his own initiative and that afterwards Netanyahu and his wife Sara began asking for more shirts.

During cross-examination, however, Milchan testified that Netanyahu had never asked him to buy shirts.

Milchan responded that the Netanyahus had hinted to him to buy the shirts but not asked directly.

Although Ben Ari did manage to return some aspects of Milchan’s account to the account laid out in the indictment against Netanyahu, some of the Hollywood producer’s testimony in cross-examination contradicting the indictment went unchallenged by Ben Ari.

One of the other key allegations of the indictment is that Netanyahu said he would assist the proposed merger of the Keshet and Reshet television channels, a move which could have benefited Milchan financially.

But Milchan said during cross-examination that the proposal for the merger did not advance very far, stating, “There was no negotiation, there was no price, there was nothing, [just] ideas in the air.”

Milchan also insisted during his testimony that he had been very close with Netanyahu and that the gifts he gave them had been given out of genuine friendship. This narrative undermines somewhat the prosecution’s claim that the relationship was, at least in part, transactional and that Netanyahu’s alleged efforts on behalf of Milchan’s private interests were therefore an illegal abuse of power.

Netanyahu’s trial will continue next week with testimony by witnesses in Case 4000, in which Netanyahu is accused of bribery as well as fraud and breach of trust in connection with the relations between the Bezeq telecom firm and the Communications Ministry under Netanyahu.

Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing in the cases against him and claims that the charges were fabricated in a witch hunt led by the police and state prosecution.