Today (Thursday), the first witness in the submarine case, Brig. Gen. (res.) Shayka Barkat, will testify. His testimony even before the opening of his evidentiary hearing was brought forward due to his advanced age, Barkat was born in 1935.
According to the indictment, Barkat was a representative of the German company Thyssenkrupp in Israel and brokered deals for the purchase of five submarines. As part of the bribery deal alleged in the indictment, Barkat was replaced as the company's representative by Mickey Ganor – the state's witness who recanted and became the accused. Barkat's testimony will also deal with former minister Yuval Steinitz.
The Submarine Affair, Photo: Michelle Dot Com
Barkat's testimony will span about three days, most of it for the defense attorneys' cross-examination. The next day of testimony will be Thursday, June 15, and another day of testimony on June 06. Miki Ganor's defense team, Adv. Ravit Zemach and Adv. Amit Nir, demanded from Barkat many documents such as his contract with ThyssenKrupp, reports to the IRS on his income from the submarine transactions and many others. He refused to turn over all the documents, accusing the defense of a "fishing expedition," some of which he claimed he could not locate.
In a witness refresher conducted for Barkat at the State Prosecutor's Office, he claimed that he had fallen ill in recent years and as a result his memory had been damaged, but that he remembered the events he testified about to the police. After the defense attorneys requested medical records regarding the claim, his lawyer asked the court to postpone cross-examination by two weeks.
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