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| English: A Russian Pantsir-S1 combined short to medium range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery weapon system. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
A spokesperson for Rosoboronexport said the Russian arms exporter and the companies that merged to form it have no relation to the deliveries of Kornet-E anti-tank missiles and Osa surface-to-air missile systems to Greece that were mentioned in media reports.
The scandal came to light when Antonios Kantas, who was arrested and charged with graft last month, claimed that he received bribes from the representatives of arms manufacturers from Germany, Sweden and Russia to secure costly weapons deals in 1996-2002.
Two local representatives of German arms firms named by Kantas were also arrested.
The Greek Defense Ministry has pledged to overhaul arms procurement procedures to make them more transparent.
A separate report from AMNA said that prosecutors were asked by the general secretary of the Greek Justice Ministry, Mr. Giorgos Sourlas, to investigate procurements purchases that have been made over the past decade.
The same dispatch pointed to a pyrolysis machine acquired in 2002 that was purchased by Greek authorities then at more than double its estimated value, leaving it to be understood that those involved in these deals benefited from the overpricing.
In another instance, Sourlas points to a machine – or a vat which uses a combination of fire and electrical current to remove worn rubber from tank tracks – was purchased for just over 6 million Euros, which is more than double the original estimated value of the tank (or it was not worth more than 2.8 million Euros). Shortly after its acquisition, the equipment was deemed to be in need of repair and another 858,317 Euros was disbursed for maintenance, Sourlas added.
The former minister made it clear that the mediator for the firm which supplied the equipment was a former armed forces officer who used to oversee a tank production factory in Greece.
The scandal which has just begun to unfold concerns a series of prosecutors’ investigations into state defense procurements revealing that top ranking officials pocketed millions of Euros in kickbacks to secure deals for particular firms.
The kickbacks, which were actually characterized as commissions were reportedly paid in instalments before January 25, 2004 (or during the Costas Simitis government).
Earlier last week, a report from Eleftherotypia showed that a deal between Russian companies and the Greek state to procure the TOR M-1 missile systems contained a special – but illegal – appendix allowing for 25% of the buying price to the paid in kickbacks (a Russian court found in 2005).
According to the report in Eleftherotypia: The dates in this case are important since it was widely known at the time when the contract was signed that Greece would hold general elections no later than April 2000, when the four-year term of the PASOK government would end. In the event that elections were held on March 7 of that year, the intention was to pay the money before a possible change in government.
Eleftherotypia also notes that 92 pages of crucial evidence concerning the kickbacks were "lost" and not revealed to a parliamentary committee established to look into corruption allegations at the defence ministry when authorities jailed former PASOK Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos (who served at the Ministry of Defence under the Simitis government between 1996-2001).
(It should be noted that the name of Yiannos Papantoniou, who served at the same ministry between 2003-2004, has also been linked to these purchases).
Read more about this issue in a previous report posted by HellasFrappe by clicking HERE
Sources - RIA Novosti, AMNA, Eleftherotypia
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