It looks like a new chapter is going to open up in the next few days in the ongoing investigation over the acquisition of Akis Tsochatzopoulos’ assets. According to a report by veteran journalist Spyros Karatzaferis (brother of LAOS leader George Karatzaferis) former Prime Minister Costas Simitis, former Prime Minister George Papandreou, the current president of PASOK Evangelos Venizelos, Vasso Papandreou and former Minister of Defence Yannos Papantoniou will be summoned to testify. The case involves charges of complicity in money laundering and corruption from bribes for the German submarines and the Russian anti-aircraft TOR-M1 guns. Akis Tsochatzopouloss, former minister of defence, is already being detained in Korydallos prison while the prosecution is pressing ahead with the investigation.
Spyros Karatzaferis revealed that a reliable source told him that Prosecutor Gabriel Malis and the two co-investigators that have been working with him on this case decided to go all the way and begin questioning all the signatures on the relevant contracts (the signatures of which include all the gentlemen/woman mentioned above check relevant story here http://www.spirospero.gr/index.php/politiki/4780-apokleistiko-ragdaies-dikastikes-ekselikseis-stin-ypothesi-aki).
If the information proves to be correct, then we will truly live to witness historical moments. It is very simple for a witness to become a suspect after giving testimony. We aspire that our justice system will go all the way with this investigation, however, if we were to judge from similar developments in the past... we highly doubt they will.
Nonetheless olympia has been featuring the relevant contracts with the signatures from all the personalities mentioned above. (Click on photos for better view)
The investigation into this controversial case was conducted in collaboration with the Financial Crime Unit that checked the movement of accounts owned by Tsochatzopouloss via offshore companies. The main point of the investigation was the manner in which Tsochatzopouloss acquired all the assets and whether they can be justified or not. Using the provisions of Law 4022/2011, which provides for speedy trial in corruption cases of politicians or government officials, prosecutors deemed the former minister and 4 others accused as suspects of fleeing and therefore they jailed them to continue with the investigation.
Tsochatzopoulos is not just any member of PASOK but almost won the leadership over Costas Simitis in 1996. In fact he is one of the founding members of the PASOK Socialist party and one of the most recognizable politicians in the country. He served as Defense Minister under the Simitis government, but his lavish lifestyle and evasion of a number of allegations regarding corruption finally landed him in jail on charges of money-laundering. Prosecutors said he used his position to steal millions of dollars in under-the-table bribes for defense procurements.
While he awaits prosecution, the charges have made for a hard fall for Tsochatzopoulos, who lived in a $1.82 million home under the Acropolis a residence he allegedly did not report in his declaration of wealth reports, and will spend Easter weekend in a police cell. The charges rocked Greece and outlined allegations of a high-living, free-wheeling lifestyle of a man said to spend more than $50,000 a day, all while denying he had ever done anything wrong.
In a 103-page report, prosecutors Evgenia Kyvelou and Eleni Siskou said that the 73-year-old minister was stealing since 1997, with most of the illicit transactions between 1999-2002. They said the transactions were concealed with the help of close associates who ran three offshore companies to hide the money, some of which was used to buy the ex-ministers array of assets. The report listed all the transactions, including the names of the financial institutions involved. He had earlier been indicted by the Parliament on similar charges, including those linked to the purchase of a faulty German submarine.
Millions of euros worth of deposits in several European banks, including 16.2 million Swiss francs (or $17.8 million) in Switzerland, have been linked to the procurement of Tor M1 missiles. The three implicated offshore firms Cyprus based Torcaso, Liberia based Nobilis and US based Blue Bell all belonged to Tsochatzopoulos, according to the report, but were run by close associates including his first cousin, Nikolaos Zigras, also a former minister.
Zigras is set to face an investigating magistrate, as is entrepreneur Giorgos Sachpatzidis, and Efrosini Lambropoulou, an accountant and representative of one of the three offshore firms. A fourth suspect, Asterios Economidis, head of one of the offshore companies, testified before a magistrate on April 12.
The newspaper Kathimerini reported that prosecutors said the money laundering was conducted chiefly through the purchase of properties in Athens, and that the report noted that the transactions traced are believed to be only a fraction of those carried out over a decade or so.
One example is the purchase of the ex-ministers luxurious home on Dionysiou Areopagitou Street in central Athens. The neoclassical building was purchased in 2010 by Tsochatzopouloss wife, Vassiliki Stamati, though it had previously belonged to Torcaso and Nobilis, two of the offshore companies listed in Tsochatzopouloss name. Tsochatzopouloss daughter, Areti, denied media reports that gold bars were found at her home. She said that police seized 10 pieces of gold leaf, which weigh 99 grams each, as well as nine 1935 gold sovereigns that she said she inherited from her grandfather.
Tsochatzopouloss wife and daughter could also face charges in connection to the probe into the veteran politicians property dealings. Scenes of him being arrested outside his luxury home and being put into a police car with a grim look on his face captivated TV audiences; this came as Greeks are furious over what many believe is a high-living elite in the country who has escaped the austerity measures that cut deeply into working-class Greeks and impoverished many.
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