New drama in the trial of former top lawyer Ronel Fischer and former Tel Aviv district attorney Ruth David: State witness in the case, former investigating officer Eran Malka, claims that as part of negotiations for a state witness agreement, senior DIP officials promised him orally that they would not seek a license revocation Malka also claims that he was orally assured that he would not be detained until the end of the proceedings – a promise that was broken, and that he would not object to his release after two-thirds of his imprisonment – a promise that he claimed was fulfilled.
Fischer’s lawyers argue that if Malka’s claim is correct, it has implications for the trial since it is a benefit he received from the state witness that was hidden from the defense and the court.
The prosecution is expected to claim that the queen was not promised anything regarding his court license or even regarding the other allegations he made. A source familiar with the process says that he was never promised the alleged benefits and that it is puzzling to claim that a state witness who will be represented by an attorney relied on oral promises and did not take care to put them in writing.
Fisher is accused of receiving information from police officer Malka from police investigations about his clients. According to the indictment, the information was passed on to third parties for payment, in which Fischer and Malka were divided or in exchange for the parties to hire Fischer’s services.
Ruth David, who was Fischer’s partner in the law firm, is charged with three counts, obstruction of justice and receipt of illegally obtained property. Malka, who served as an officer in the National Blade 433 Economic Crime Unit of the police, was convicted under a plea deal of trading in police intelligence information from investigations in exchange for bribes and perks. He admitted that he had made contact with Fischer, a well-known lawyer and industry associate, in which he had information from covert and overt investigations, alerts about impending arrests.
Malka’s claim arose in the disciplinary proceedings opened against him in August 2021 in the Court of Bar Association’s request to permanently revoke his license. This is after Malka, who ran 7 years in prison in the case, was released in July 2019 and his attorney’s license was returned to him.
Judge Moshe Sobel, the district court that has been conducting the proceedings since 2015, has a hearing this afternoon (Wednesday). Fisher and his lawyer Eli Perry, David – who participated together with her lawyer through a video call, Malka Yemima’s lawyer Abramovich and the lawyer of Yair Bitton, the defendant in the case, participated in the hearing.
Adv. Eli Perry / Photo: PR
Malka testified in the disciplinary proceedings last December, and the court summoned Moshe Saada, the deputy director of the former police investigations department, and the attorney general from the DIP Keren Altman, who is scheduled to testify this coming Sunday.
Subel discusses Fischer’s request to receive the entire case of the disciplinary tribunal including Malka’s testimony there, and the complexity of the proceedings before the tribunal while the criminal trial is taking place. It was determined that the court will pass on Malka’s testimony to the parties in the proceedings and that Adv. Altman will not review the minutes in view of her summons to testify.
The delay in the disciplinary proceedings
Malka’s license was temporarily suspended during the course of the criminal proceedings against him. With the delivery of the judgment against him on appeal in 2016, the suspension ended. Malka ran a lengthy prison sentence and was released as stated in July 2019. After his release and since no complaint was filed against him to suspend his license, he got his license back.
Judge Moshe suffers in court today (Wednesday) / Photo: Yossi Zamir
In today’s hearing, it emerged that the State Attorney’s Office updated the Bar Association regarding Malka’s conviction for the first time in February 2020. This was after he was released 8 months earlier. In July 2021, another application was made by the State Attorney’s Office and only after that did the disciplinary proceedings begin – two years after his release. The tribunal asked the bureau’s prosecutor to explain the delay.
The State Attorney’s Office stated that “the State Attorney’s Office has updated the Central District Bar Association regarding the conviction of Eran Malka, before his license was returned to him. .
The defense revealed Malka’s claims in the media
Fischer’s lawyers, Perry and the head of the Avi Chimi Bar Association, found out about Malka’s claim regarding his lawyer’s license, first published by journalist Ziv Krystal on the Posta website about two weeks ago. The revelation led to their harsh response to the court in which it was argued that the defense was shocked, and that if Malka’s claim was correct it was “such a substantial and severe and difficult concealment that at its core intent to conceal from the defense and the court a major benefit”. The discovery led to a series of hearings and the receipt of the disciplinary case from the tribunal.
The response came against the background of allegations that arose at the beginning of the proceedings about the lack of any documentation for negotiations conducted with Malka. This is in contrast to the documentation directive. Judge Sobel heard the allegations and ruled that the negotiations were indeed required to be documented but the significance will be discussed later.
Advocate Perry said at the hearing “We are revealing administrative promises that we did not discover here except in an external incident by the media. We must find out what was promised and how much was promised. “And if it was promised it was hidden from the court.” We questioned Malka their days on the promises. ” Perry added that “it is not appropriate for the claim to be clarified in any proceeding in the Bar Association and it will not be clarified in the broadest sense.”
*** Presumption of innocence: Eran Malka, Ruth David, Shai Bers and Yair Bitton were not convicted and they have presumption of innocence.