The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court sentenced real estate developer Inbal Or this morning (Thursday) to 7.5 years in prison, a fine of 350,000 NIS - and suspended sentences.
Or to Judge Dana Amir: "I represent myself. My mistress kidnapped me to prison, I am kidnapped.".
The judge said in handing down the sentence: "There are no circumstances that justify an exception to the tone or severity. The defendant refused legal representation, did not take responsibility, not even outright. She acted as she did to disrupt the course of the hearings - and did not act to repair the damage she caused to the public purse.".
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When the sentence was read, Or requested a delay in its execution, but the prosecutor's office opposed it out of fear that she would escape justice, as she had not appeared for hearings in the past.
Judge Dana Amir turned to Or at the end of the hearing and asked her to agree to have a lawyer from the defense attorney's office represent her. Or refused - and the judge rejected her request for a stay of execution.
The State Attorney's Office stated: "This is a severe and harsh punishment, but it is appropriate for Or's serious criminal acts in the context of her activity in the real estate market in Israel. Or did not subject herself to the rules even during the trial itself. She interfered, made unfounded accusations, did not cooperate with the process and did not take responsibility - but at the same time, such conduct cannot lead to evasion of the threat of justice and punishment according to law.".
In November, Or was convicted of all 15 counts of the indictment against her, including receiving something by fraud, tax and VAT offenses amounting to tens of millions of shekels. She broke down during the sentencing and shouted at Judge Dana Amir: "You are a criminal organization.".
During the hearing, the judge noted that Or did everything to disrupt the proper course of the trial and in a manipulative manner: "Although the manner in which the defendant conducted herself in significant parts of the proceedings was unusual and blatant, while abusing the authority of the court, and although in various hearings the defendant sang, ate, and listened to content on headphones in a demonstrable attempt to ignore what was happening in the courtroom, in my impression - the defendant understood well what was alleged in the indictment against her, the proceedings, and what was happening.".
In 2019, an indictment was filed against Inbal Or, companies under her control, and against Dror Giladi, who served as CFO of some of the companies. The indictment includes 15 charges for committing offenses under the VAT Law, the Income Tax Ordinance, fraud offenses under aggravated circumstances against customers and against a bank branch manager, as well as offenses under the Consumer Protection Law.
According to the indictment, Inbal Or did not issue invoices and did not report to the VAT director some of the transactions she carried out in eight residential projects in which she organized purchasing groups through companies under her control.
The total amount of transactions for which Or did not issue invoices and did not report to the Customs and VAT Administration reached approximately 81 million shekels. In addition, Or fraudulently demanded that customers transfer funds totaling two million shekels to her private account, instead of some of the funds they transferred to the trustee.
