Hadas Klein is a key prosecution witness for proving allegations that Benjamin Netanyahu received an illegal volume of valuable gifts when he was prime minister.
A key prosecution witness in the Case 1000 Illegal Gifts Affair against former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted on Tuesday that an early report estimating the value of the gifts was more than three times lower than in the indictment.
Under cross-examination before the Jerusalem District Court by Netanyahu defense lawyer Amit Hadad, Hadas Klein, aide to tycoon billionaire Arnon Milchan, acknowledged that an early estimate placed the value of the gifts at under NIS 200,000.
In contrast, the indictment alleged the value of the gifts at well over NIS 700,000.
An account of the gifts
The indictment said that Netanyahu allegedly received NIS 267,254 ($75,800) in cigars and NIS 184,448 ($52,300) worth of champagne from billionaire Milchan between 2011 and 2016. Further, it said that Sara Netanyahu allegedly received NIS 10,900 ($3,100.)
He and his family also allegedly received another NIS 229,174 ($65,000) in champagne and cigars from Milchan’s associate, Australian billionaire James Packer, between 2014 and 2016.
According to Hadad, there was a Microsoft Excel sheet that had a much lower estimate, something which Klein confirmed.
Hadad also accused the police of intentionally avoiding pursuing or “finding” this excel sheet report because it could undermine their case against Netanyahu.
A prosecution spokeswoman said that the truth would be clarified as the trial continued, but that the defendant’s claims should not be taken at face value.
Who is Hadas Klein?
Klein is a key prosecution witness for proving allegations that Netanyahu received an illegal volume of valuable gifts despite being in a conflict of interest with tycoons Milchan and James Packer in that he was also using his powers as prime minister to try to assist them with various business and personal issues.
Besides the report, Hadad also accused Klein of inventing large portions of her testimony against the Netanyahus, saying that the gifts given were in a much smaller volume, much less frequently and in a context of friendship, not with the tension described by Klein.
Throughout the cross-examination, Hadad also sought to highlight a range of issues that Klein did not remember to try to convince the court that her memory of various events in the case was also faulty.
Tensions between Hadad and Klein were high, and boiled over when he explicitly accused her of lying, with the judges intervening at times asking Hadad to lower his voice.