Gad Zeevi, others acquitted in Malam case

The judge said the transactions in question were neither false nor unreasonable.

Tel Aviv Magistrates Court Judge Daniela Cherizli today acquitted former Malam Systems chairman Gad Zeevi and CEO Gilad Rabinovitz, director Yuval Aker, and legal advisor Adv. Assaf Tiber of all charges in the Malam (now Malam Team Ltd. (TASE: MLTM)) case.

Zeevi and the other Malam officers were accused of aggravated fraud and the false accounting. The prosecutor claimed that the accused conspired to obtain approval of company shareholders at a general meeting to pay Zeevi a monthly salary of $10,000. The judge ruled that the prosecution did not prove its case.

"I am not going into personal issues. I kept the verdict professional and objective, even though I strongly wanted to say what I thought during the hearing. Things could have been much shorter," Judge Cherizli told the prosecutors. "I did not halt the hearing only out of the respect that I have for the prosecution. It was really irrelevant."

Judge Cherizli added that the legal material was clear, and so was the required verdict. "At the end of the day, everything focused on the issue of the shares. I made no normative statement whether the shares were tainted or not, but I think that act by the accused was neither false nor unreasonable. I thoroughly examined all the material. In general, I think that Mr. Tiber did not err according to the specific material in this case."

Judge Cherizli also criticized the Israel Securities Authority for not providing an opinion on the case. "I would have expected the Securities Authority to express an opinion, but it did not do so, so what I am expected to do? The grounds for a charge of fraudulent receiving have been undercut. More than necessary, I discussed the question whether there were misleading details in the various documents. There was no conspiracy, and I therefore acquit the accused of all charges in the indictment."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 7, 2011

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2011

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