The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court sentenced Oded Shakanai to 9 months in prison and a fine of NIS 900,000. As you may recall, Shakanai was convicted according to his confession of tax offenses as part of the Defense Shield affair.
The Defensive Shield Affair: Gal Hirsch's Trial Begins // Archive // Paz Bar
As part of the plea bargain, Shakanai pleaded guilty to an amended indictment filed by the Tax and Economic Prosecutor's Office. The indictment states that between 2009 and 2007, Shakanai worked – in partnership with Gal Hirsch, Yaniv Adam and Michael Binyamini – to provide various services for the Ministry of Defense in Georgia.
The Defensive Shield Affair, Photo: Gideon Markowitz, Coco
Shachenai operated in Georgia, among other things, through a Panamanian company he owned called Artisti. During 2008-2009, the company's revenues, estimated at NIS 5.4 million, were transferred to accounts in Switzerland, without a neighbor reporting them to the Income Tax Authority and while preparing incorrect tax returns, in which he omitted income that he was required to report. In addition, a neighbor gave false information about matters affecting his tax charge.
In the meantime, Gal Hirsch filed a request with the court to postpone the evidentiary hearings in his case, which are scheduled to begin this Sunday, partly because of his position as the person in charge of the issue of abductees and missing persons.
According to the request, Hirsch himself was "called to the flag, to the most sensitive position: in charge of the issue of abductees and missing persons," the motion states, "when all of Hirsch's days and nights over the past two months have been devoted to this mission, which he carries out on a fully voluntary basis." At the same time, one of Hirsch's defense attorneys was recruited and serves as a battalion sergeant in reserve duty in northern Israel. He was released for the first time on December 1, 12 for a hiatus, and is expected to enlist again for operational employment, probably during February 2023.
"Putting the affair behind him"
"The reality of life that has befallen us, as a result of which, as stated, we were recruited for a long period of time, each to his position, Hirsch and the undersigned, does not allow Hirsch to properly prepare for the evidentiary sessions in his case, which are an acute stage in the conduct of his defense," the application states.
Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court (archive), photo: Gideon Markowitz
In response, the State Prosecutor's Office agreed to cancel the hearings, which were supposed to take place by mid-January: "Postponing the hearings as proposed by the accuser will allow the other representatives. The case has a reasonable period of time to prepare to take Adv. Shapira's place in the regular additional hearings that will be determined in this case – insofar as Adv. Shapira is indeed called up for additional reserve duty, when they resume. In addition, during this period the defendant will also be able to prepare for the commencement of hearing the evidence on the remaining dates, alongside his occupation," they wrote.
Attorneys Jacques Chen, Moshe Mizrahi, Shai Ayalon and Eldad Noah said: "At the end of such a long period in which Oded Shakanai successfully fought various accusations that were refuted, he took responsibility for a low-level tax offense for a 15-year-old event, and put this affair behind him."
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