Continuing with his marathon testimony before a Greek magistrate on Wednesday currently investigating a scandalous and massive money-laundering network, Nikos Zigras, the first cousin of former Defense Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos implicated several more suspects in the case including names such as former Cypriot minister Dinos Michaelides, Mr. Yiannis Smbokos who was the general secretary of the Greek Defense Ministry during Tsochatzopoulos’s run as minister (1996-2001), as well as Fouad Al Fayad, and Vlassis Kambouroglou who are two businessmen that have already been identified as suspects in a prosecutors’ report that led to Tsochatzopoulos’s arrest in April.
Zigras said that the former Cypriot Minister had played a key role in transferring millions of euros in illegal payments which Tsochatzopoulos is alleged to have secured for defense procurements. On the other, Smbokos was said to have pocketed such great sums and apparently still owes money to Tsochatzopoulos.
In his testimony Zigras also revealed that Michaelides had been instrumental in transferring the money from the kickbacks by carrying the money in suitcases and not through a web of offshore firms as identified in the prosecutors’ report. What's more, Michaelides’s son Michalis also helped his father with some of the cash transfers!
The testimony also revealed how PASOK brought Russian-Pontians from Cyprus to vote in the 2000 elections and baptized them Greek (via nationalization) and then paid them to vote for PASOK, and especially for Aki who was running in the city of Thessaloniki. The same method was used with the Roma community as well.
Certainly, this comes as no surprise since it is common knowledge that the elections in the year 2000 were more or less "fixed". Some may recall that roughly 150,000 names suddenly appeared out of no where on the voting lists and allowed PASOK (and its leader Costas Simitis) to win with a slim 75,000 votes over Costas Karamanlis and the New Democracy party.
In fact, reports at the time had said that the number of residents in villages such as Evros and Thessaly and even citizens in the B' Section of Athens had increased five-fold!
The New Democracy party had a "lukewarm" reaction back then even though it had all the evidence against PASOK with illegal nationalizations from people all over the world (or from Pakistan, to Moldova). Till this day it is unknown why they did not react, but a televised report from a Thessaly reporter in 2011 said that the West had asked (and maybe even warned) ND to step back on this issue. Here is the video... listen to what the reporter says at 3,34 minutes into the tape.
Tens of chartered flights arrived and departed in Cyprus as well as in Bulgaria, during those elections, as did "suspicious" flights from "shady" airline companies that are commonly used by the CIA, a day before those elections and throughout all of Sunday until the polls closed.
Zigras noted that Akis did everything in his power to get elected and in some cases he would spend more than two million euros to buy votes. In fact he was so determined to become an MP (so as to gain parliamentary immunity) that he would even buy season tickets for PAOK (northern Greek soccer team).
According to him, the ultimate beneficiaries of all this illegal money was Akis, and John Smbokos.
After this revelation, Zigras admitted that he was the founder of Bluebell and Torcaso (off shore companies). The second company received large sums of money from some of Akis' friends which he would in return invest in property all over Greece.
In this movement of money, Zigras also mentioned the name of Oratio Mela (phonetic spelling) which is specialized in opening offshore accounts as well as is known for being crafty in the movement of money through these companies. And it is at this point that Zigras described how the transfers were made between Torcaso, Bluebell and Morelia, which belong to Oratio Mela, emphasizing the role of former Cyprus minister Dinos Michaelides.
Michaelides was the key figure in the case, or the man who arranged for all the deals to be made, the meetings and the decisions between Fouad Al Fayad, Kambouroglou and Akis Tsochatzopoulos. He is also the person who apparently carried the suitcases which were full of money, while he noted that Smpokos also transferred many sums in bags as well.
Zigras emphasized that he was not involved with the Nobilis off shore company -said to be the company which purchased the neoclassical building on Areopagite Street where Tsochatzopoulos and Stamatis lived-, because the Nobilis company was founded by Smbokos on behalf of Akis Tsohatzopoulos. Smpokos says, gave the shares to Tsohatzopoulos, who purchased this property through this transaction.
The purchase was a "virtual" reality underlined Zigras because not a penny was paid on the house itself but only on the taxes and its expenses.
Following the sale of the home, Zigras introduced Asterios Economidis of Arcon to Akis Tsohatzopoulos who is also in custody. Economides was responsible for refurbishing and remodeling the home and had become a good friend to Aki since then.
For the purchase of Komnas Trakas, where the offices of Akis Tsochatzopoulos are located, Zigras said that Akis gave him the money to purchase the property, because he did not want to appear as the buyer. "Later on, when I realized the magnitude of the fraud that was involved, I transferred this property to him," he added.
In his testimony he also referred to an amount of some 2.9 million Swiss francs that was allegedly deposited by MIE in the accounts of Morelia and in Kiprou Mela (for the case of the submarines) and which were then transferred to Zigras' personal accounts in Greece or were given to him in cash.
"Everything is true," he told the judge, "I gave Mr Tsochatzopoulos the entire amount of 2,960,000 francs" and he continued on by saying that the money deposited in the accounts of Morelia, as well as all the cash that was given to him from 1999 up until 2005, all came from Dinos Michaelides.
We saved the best for last, Zigras also implicated Tsochatzopoulos' present and former wife -Vicky Stamatis and Gudrun Montenchaouer, respectively- who he noted knew -very well- about everything that was going on. According to him, Akis never kept any secrets from his wives. He then went on to reveal that his former wife Gudrun Molntenchaouer had consented to divorce him and was paid more than 500,000 euros to do so, while she received 3,000 euros per month.
He also implicated Margarita Terzi who reportedly owned a luxury apartment in Thessaloniki, which Akis Tsochatzopoulos purchased for his daughter. Zigras suggested that authorities should now also check what price was paid for the flat and what Terzi's true relationship is to Tsohatzopoulos and Vicky Stamatis as well as how she suddenly became and adviser at the Greek Department of Defense.
As for his daughter, Areti Tsochatzopoulos, Zigras said that she was "aware" of the situation as well.
(References, proto-thema, kathimerini, iefimerida, newsbomb, SKAI channel, MEGA channel, defencenet, enikos)
Editor's Note - And this is just the tip of the iceberg... the fun has just begun! The testimony -especially the part of PASOK and the nationalizations- are just one more piece of the puzzle behind the reasons why former leader of ND Costas Karamanlis was -and still is- feared by domestic and foreign oligarchs. His silence is allowing the situation to expose itself for what it really is... one huge sack of sh***t which stinks from hundreds and hundreds miles away. With each passing day... and with everything that will be unfolding in the weeks and months to come, we are becoming even more convinced that he was totally incorruptible, and the only leader that truly cared about Greece and its people.
Posts
