Thank you. It is fine for me.

Best,

Charles

 

 

Dear Charles,

 

That's great. I can't reach the people here at the moment. Let's assume that we will speak at 10:30 your time but if 3 PM proves more feasible, I'll let you know early tomorrow morning.

 

Thanks very much.

 

Yours,

 

Yitzchak

 

 

Dear Yitzchak,

 

Thank you for these news.

 

I should be available tomorrow at 10:30 or at 15:00 (Swiss time).

 

What time would suit ?

 

Have a nice evening,

 

Charles

 

 

Dear Charles,

 

Thanks for your mail. I can confirm to you that we will gratefully accept your invitation to arrive in Switzerland to conduct the discussion and review we discussed in our conversation yesterday. Our prosecutors even wanted to know if there is any chance of making the meeting earlier ! So they are very eager to come.

 

In order to enable them to select in an effective way who will come and in order for them  to prepare efficiently for the meetings, they had a few preliminary questions -- such as what languages are most of the documents and records in and what is their relative quantity. I think it may be very helpful if we could conduct another preliminary conversation, perhaps tomorrow, with the participation of the relevant prosecutor/investigator.  Is this possible and at what time ?

 

I wanted to again convey our team's (and my own) sincere appreciation for your cooperative efforts in this matter to date. I am already copying our chief prosecutor in this matter, Ms. Etty Ben Dor, as she will be part of future discusssions/preparations.

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Yitzchak

 

 

Yitzchak Blum

Deputy Director,

Department of International Affairs

Office of the State Attorney

Ministry of Justice

State of Israel

 

Tel:  972-(0)2-5419612

Fax: 972-(0)2-6467044

yitzchakb@justice.gov.il

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Yitzchak,

 

Thank you for our today’s call.

 

I can hereby confirm that we will be able to organize the meeting we have discussed during the week starting December 10^th, 2018.

 

Kind regards,

 

Charles

 

 

Charles Navarro                                           

Assistant Federal Prosecutor

Division for International mutual assistance, International Criminal Law

Office of the Attorney General OAG

Taubenstrasse 16, CH-3003 Bern                                                     

Tel.: +41 58 462 23 19

Fax: +41 58 462 10 97                                         

charles.navarro@ba.admin.ch

www.bundesanwaltschaft.ch                                           

________________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks !

 

 

Thank you.

 

Tomorrow at 2.30 is fine for me. I will call you.

 

Kind regards,

 

Charles

 

 

Charles Navarro                                           

Assistant Federal Prosecutor

Division for International mutual assistance, International Criminal Law

Office of the Attorney General OAG

Taubenstrasse 16, CH-3003 Bern                                                     

Tel.: +41 58 462 23 19

Fax: +41 58 462 10 97                                         

charles.navarro@ba.admin.ch

www.bundesanwaltschaft.ch                                           

________________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Charles,

 

That's great. Shall we say at 2:30 ( our time) which is 1:30 your time ? I am flexible, so if you end up having a different preference, let me know.

 

Regards,

 

Yitzchak

 

 

Dear Yitzchak,

 

Of course. I can suggest tomorrow 20.11 in the afternoon, anytime between 13:00 and 17:00 (Swiss time) or Wednesday 21.11 as of 17:00 (Swiss time).

 

Kind regards,

 

Charles

 

 

 

Dear Charles,

 

Thanks very much for your encouraging information. Does the transmission procedure you referred to include the Swiss court hearings ? Obviously, our concern is whether it is likely that the transmission procedure itself may be a lengthy process.  Most phases of the investigation here have been completed and the most urgent remaining evidence is the Swiss evidence.

 

In some cases we have had, our police authorities have been able to receive information on an intelligence basis regarding possibly relevant evidence even prior to formal transmission through MLA. We were wondering if there were any possibility of something like this in the present case ? Do you think we might be able to conduct a short conversation this week, to discuss these procedural matters ?

 

Thank you again for your mail and for the encouraging information that there may be relevant evidence in this matter in the Swiss records.

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Yitzchak

 

 

Yitzchak Blum

Deputy Director,

Department of International Affairs

Office of the State Attorney

Ministry of Justice

State of Israel

 

Tel:  972-(0)2-5419612

Fax: 972-(0)2-6467044

yitzchakb@justice.gov.il

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Mr. Blum,

 

Thank you for your email.

 

The execution of your request has revealed more evidence than expected. As the said evidence may - to our opinion - be of an interest for your investigation, we are still completing our file confidentially in this respect. As soon as this process will be completed, we will be in a position to start the transmission procedure.

 

I hope that the above serves your purpose and remain of course at your disposal should you have further questions in this matter.

 

Kind regards,

 

Charles

 

 

Charles Navarro                                           

Assistant Federal Prosecutor

Division for International mutual assistance, International Criminal Law

Office of the Attorney General OAG

Taubenstrasse 16, CH-3003 Bern                                                     

Tel.: +41 58 462 23 19

Fax: +41 58 462 10 97                                         

charles.navarro@ba.admin.ch

www.bundesanwaltschaft.ch                                           

________________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Mr. Navarro,

 

I hope you are well.

 

Is there any update on the status of the proceedings regarding our Request in this matter ?

 

 

Very Best Regards,

 

Yitzchak

 

 

Yitzchak Blum

Deputy Director,

Department of International Affairs

Office of the State Attorney

Ministry of Justice

State of Israel

 

Tel:  972-(0)2-5419612

Fax: 972-(0)2-6467044

yitzchakb@justice.gov.il

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Mr. Blum,

 

Thank you for your email and please excuse this delayed answer.

 

Based on the LoR sent in April, we have been in a position to enter on the merit of your requests. As a consequence, we have initiated the execution and started to gather the relevant evidence.

 

As you already know, the Swiss mutual assistance proceeding is confidential. I am therefore not able to inform you about the explicit content of the material.

 

I hope that the above serves your purpose. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have further questions in this matter.

 

Kind regards,

 

Charles Navarro                                              

Procureur fédéral assistant     

Entraide judiciaire, Droit pénal internationnal RV            

Ministère public de la Confédération MPC                                          

Taubenstrasse 16, CH-3003 Berne                                                      

Tél.: +41 58 462 23 19

Fax: +41 58 462 10 97                                         

charles.navarro@ba.admin.ch

www.bundesanwaltschaft.ch                                           

________________________________________

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Mr. Navarro,

 

I was wondering if we could get an update regarding our Request in this matter, which we submitted following changes we made as a result of our discussion in late March. I understand that you had indicated that the matter might take some time, but we would appreciate knowing where things stand and any indications of how you think it may proceed.

 

I am attaching a copy of the Amended Request as sent in April for your convenience. I thank you very much in advance.

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Yitzchak

 

 

Yitzchak Blum

Deputy Director,

Department of International Affairs

Office of the State Attorney

Ministry of Justice

State of Israel

 

Tel:  972-(0)2-5419612

Fax: 972-(0)2-6467044

yitzchakb@justice.gov.il

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Julia,

 

Please find enclosed an amended version of Israel's Request for Legal Assistance in the above-referenced criminal matter.  The Request was originally dated  August 10, 2017 and submitted around that time. We were informed at the time that the matter was  referred to the Office of the Attorney General and that your own reference number for the matter was  B-17-3868-1 and that the competent person at your office was Ms. Ludivine Antal.

 

At some point subsequent, we were contacted by Assistant Federal Prosecutor Charles Navarro  of the Division  for International Mutual Assistance, of the Office of the Attorney General.  After very fruitful discussion and very helpful suggestions by Mr. Navarro, we amended our Request to make certain changes that Mr. Navarro suggested to facilitate its execution. Among other things, the request no longer seeks evidence for the purpose of investigating tax-related  offenses.

 

The amended Request takes the place of our earlier submitted request. Like the request previously submitted, the amended request relates to the ongoing investigation conducted by the Israel Police into suspicions of criminal offences, including bribery, fraud and money laundering, committed by Israeli nationals connected to the alleged illegal payments and transactions to and with a foreign public official, the former Minister of Defense of the Republic of Georgia.  The assistance requested is largely to  obtain documents, records and witness interviews from Union Bancaire Privee (UBP) Bank in Geneva. 

 

We assumed that we should resend the amended request through your office, but we will be grateful for any step that will facilitate its rapid transfer for execution to the persons we were in contact with at the Swiss Office of the Attorney General. We have, of course, amended our translation of the Request into French and a copy of that amended Translation is also attached.

 

Please acknowledge receipt of this amended request and we thank you as ever for your valuable assistance.

 

 

Best Regards,

 

 

Yitzchak

 

 

Yitzchak Blum

Deputy Director,

Department of International Affairs

Office of the State Attorney

Ministry of Justice

State of Israel

 

Tel:  972-(0)2-5419612

Fax: 972-(0)2-6467044

yitzchakb@justice.gov.il