The charges against Matados are related to the central role his company allegedly played in the case of submarines as well as for the movement of large sums of money provided for "payments for benefit of inventory".
A report from the state news agency says that investigators of the case have at their disposal new bank account data through which money from the armament programs appear to have been laundered.
Meanwhile, it was made known that at the beginning of February Swiss prosecutors are going to receive testimonies from those already accused on kickbacks, including former defence minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, his wife Vicky Stamatis and even his cousin Nikos Zigras.
Tsochatzopoulos is the key figure in a scandal that has indeed shocked citizens all over Greece. Earlier last year he was sentenced to eight years in prison for tax evasion and several months later (or in October) he was sentenced to a further twenty years for corruption and money laundering.
Meanwhile, Yiannis Beltsios (63), an associate of former defence minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, is accused of handing over German bribes totalling more than 63,192,691 Euros and 2,960,225 Swiss francs to Tsochatzopoulos and to Sotiris Emmanouil (61), the former chairman of Hellenic Shipyards
According to Eleftherotypia police arrested Beltsios (63), the charges against Beltsios range from felonies of active corruption to money laundering.
At the same time, Sotiris Emmanouil, the former chairman of Hellenic Shipyards, was also arrested after anti-corruption investigators, who have heard explosive testimony about the submarine deals from a number of people in recent weeks, issued warrants for his arrest.
Generally unknown to the authorities until recently, Beltsios' name surfaced in documents presented during the so-called "golden kickbacks" trial that was held against Tsochatzopoulos. Avatangelos, who is accused of involvement in paying the bribes with Beltsios, was released on bail in November of 500,000 Euros.
German documents provided to Greek judicial authorities appear to show the involvement of Emmanuel and Beltsios in the scandal. The former, according to the German case file, appears to have received the sum of 17 million, which was to be distributed in Greece as a "gift" to compensate for the decision to order the submarines from Germany.
As it appears, the latter acted as an intermediary between Tsochatzopoulos and the HDW/Ferrostaal consortium.
In a previous testimony to a Munich public prosecutor, Matados said that he paid about 1 million Euros to Beltsios.
"At MIE (a Greek agent of Ferrostaal), we were asked if we could pay something to Mr Beltsios, which we did. We paid Mr Beltsios about 1 million Euros around March 2000. I think that the amount paid in drachmas, I do not remember if it was by cheque or cash. I wasn't told why Mr Beltsios received this money. I believe it was for his excellent work."Although Matados subsequently denied some of the statements attributed to him, there are other stakeholders who have given similar testimony to the prosecutors in Munich.
Among them is a former senior Ferrostaal executive, Johann-Friedrich Haun, who claimed that Tsochatzopoulos advised them that "Beltsios was someone who knows a lot of people and who could be useful". According to him "the two of them, Tsochatzopoulos and Beltsios, know each other from PASOK and are very old friends."
In December 2011, a Munich court imposed a 140 million Euro fine on Ferrostaal, after two former managers, including Haun, were convicted of bribery. Haun was fined 36,000 Euros and required to pay an additional 30,000 Euros to charities. Both received suspended prison terms of two years.
It should be reminded that in February 2000, a German consortium, comprising Thyssen Nordseewerke, Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) and Ferrostaal, signed a 1.14 billion Euro contract with the Greek government to build three Type 214 submarines at Hellenic Shipyards and a fourth submarine at HDW's shipyard in Kiel.
The consortium also incurred associated costs – known as offset obligations – to the tune of 1.53 billion Euros. Common but controversial, offsets are where a country demands certain economic benefits – like technological know how or the of local suppliers to build the equipment they are buying – when they spend large parts of their government budgets buying defence equipment from foreign suppliers.
Another contract, signed in May 2002 involved the modernisation of three Type 209 submarines at Hellenic Shipyards, with an option for a fourth submarine. The contract was worth approximately 469.4 million Euros. Offset obligations in relation to this contract amounted to 563 million Euros. As part of the deal, HDW and Ferrostaal agreed to buy a majority interest in Hellenic Shipyards, signing a contract for that on the same day as the submarine deal.
Sources - Eleftherotypia, Euro2day, AMNA
To get a better understanding of this case we suggest that you also read:
How Paying Double For German Subs Helped To Sink Greece
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-paying-double-for-german-subs.html
EXPOSED - Classified Documents About Bribery From German Arms Manufacturers To Greek Politicians
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2012/07/exposed-classified-documents-about.html
An Introduction And Analysis Of The Siemens and Ferrostaal Scandals
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2012/06/introduction-and-analysis-of-siemens.html
More Arrested Over Bribery & Kickbacks Claims In Arms Deals
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2014/01/more-arrested-over-bribery-kickbacks.html
Russian Arms Exporter Denies Links to Greek Arms Bribe Scandal
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2014/01/russian-arms-exporter-denies-links-to.html
SPECIAL REPORT - Kantas EXPOSES Massive German-Greek Web of Corruption In Defence Contracts
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2013/12/special-report-kantas-exposes-massive.html
NEW SCANDAL - SYRIZA Targets Venizelos in Defence Systems Contract Fiasco
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2013/10/new-scandal-syriza-targets-venizelos-in.html
Venizelos, An Overflowing Bank Account and German Arms Bribery
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2012/03/venizelos-overflowing-bank-account-and.html
How Papakostaninou Gave 500mln to the A.Rossoni Group After The Debut Of The Memorandums
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2012/12/how-papakostaninou-gave-500mln-to.html
Forgiving Siemens And German Corruption in Greece
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2012/07/forgiving-siemens-and-german-corruption.html