The indictment against former Bezeq VP Amikam Shorer, former company secretary Linoy Yochelman and son of Eurocon owner Or Elovitch has been dropped from the Bezeq case (in which former Bezeq and Yes executives are on trial), the Tel Aviv District Court decided on Wednesday morning. Some of the charges against Shaul Elovitch, owner of the Eurocom Group, were also dropped.
Judge Michal Agmon-Gonen accepted allegations made by some of the defendants, including Elovitch, who was accused in Case 4000 of bribing former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. She decided to drop the charges against three senior members of the company and against the companies accused in two of the indictments.
In December 2020, the State Attorney’s Office for Taxation and Economics filed an indictment in the Tel Aviv District Court against Elovitch, who was the controlling shareholder in Bezeq and chair of the company’s board, as well as against senior officials in the group. It filed an indictment against Yes in addition to several companies from the Eurocom group, which Elovitch controlled as well.
The indictment accuses them of fraud and breach of trust. This was in relation to the bribes for the purchase of Yes shares by Bezeq’s transactions with the company, in which the controlling shareholder Elovitch had a personal interest.
“I welcome the verdict,” Attorney Yaron Kostelitz, who represented Schorer, said. “The court accepted all our claims and dismissed the charges against Amikam Schorer. After years, Amikam will finally be able to put the matter behind him and continue to contribute his talents.”
Elovitch’s lawyer, Jacques Chen, who also represents him in Case 4000, refused to comment.
Case 4000
During the public corruption trial of Netanyahu, former top aide turned state witness Shlomo Filber testified that Netanyahu gave him the order to do what Elovitch wanted on several issues.
Filber specifically told the Jerusalem District Court that the Bezeq-Yes merger, issues of pricing reforms and other telecommunications-related reforms (which was to increase competition) were matters Netanyahu mentioned to him in the key meeting that brought the case forward.
As Filber continued his six hours on the stand, he made several statements diluting some of his accusations against Netanyahu, which the defense may later try to use to obtain an acquittal.
Netanyahu mostly did not show emotion, but occasionally had his son Avner pass notes to his lawyers, and smirked when Filber slammed the police.
The former top aide testified about the key meeting at the heart of the media bribery allegations in Case 4000, the Bezeq-Walla Affair, saying that the former prime minister gave him three orders regarding satisfying Elovitch.
Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.