Tsohatzopoulos, who is the main defendant in the case, is accused of money laundering via offshore companies that he owned, and which he used for real estate transactions and/or other investment activities to legalize (or launder) the money that he received as kickbacks from military procurement deals, that were signed when he was serving as defence minister under the PASOK led Simitis government. In his actions he was apparently assisted by businessmen, lawyers, his former and present wife and even his daughter.
Two deals in particular have been under scrutiny: The TOR M1 missile defense system and the purchase of submarines for the Hellenic Navy.
Prosecutors believe that some 160 million euros in bribes were paid as part of the two deals. With the help of former Defense Ministry official Yiannis Sbokos and others, Tsochatzopoulos allegedly siphoned this money off using offshore companies.
So far, authorities have only traced 57 million Euros.
Tsochatzopoulos denies all the charges, as do the others in this case.
Some reports said on Monday that in the face of the evidence against him, Tsochatzopoulos will attempt to convince the court that his prosecution is politically motivated and that he did not bear sole responsibility for approving the contracts in question.
This explains the request he made last n Friday, to the other members of the Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defense (KYSEA), which approved the deals, to appear in court under the Simitis government.
Speaking to the Sunday edition of Real News and supporting his decision on the purchase of the TOR M1 systems, Tsochatzopoulos told the Sunday Edition of Real News two weeks ago that the following names should be called to testify: (Get a load at the names! ououhhhouou)
- George Papandreou
- Costas Simitis
- Theodore Pangalos
- Costas Laliotis
- Yannos Papantoniou
- Romaios
- Papadopoulos
- and other defence officials.
The request was unfortunately declined but Tsochatzopoulos is expected to bring the matter up again during the trial.
The case files on the purchase of German-made submarines and Russian-designed TOR M1 anti-aircraft systems - when Tsohatzopoulos was serving as defence minister- as well as seized documents from the defendants' residences, were all forwarded to the prosecutor's office. Reports claim that among the seized documents are detailed notes allegedly kept by Tsohatzopoulos in the form of a journal which are believed to include names of journalists and military analysts who Akis had on a "payroll" and were more or less accepting kickbacks for being pro-government with funds from several offshore companies.
Some Background to This Story
Between 2002-04, Ferrostaal paid 7.5m euros to PDM and Zelan. No activity of any substance can be traced to this Cypriot-based duo, and all the record of directors have vapourised. But their job was to ‘facilitate contract awards’ by Greek ministries. ‘The complete lack of any documentation supporting performance by these companies raises serious concerns’, says a confidential German report. In 2004, Dusseldorf prosecutors fingered Sotiris Emmanouil, the head of Hellenic Shipyards, as the recipient of illegal bribes running into millions of euros by yet another intermediary – HDW – and a later report showed he had indeed received 2.2 million euros via an affiliate in October of that year. Again, no evidence of services supplied exists. In July 2007, 11 million euros were handed to shady ‘facilitators’ Dolmarton. No back-up of tasks performed.
But when it comes to the Greek government’s purchase of four 214 Class submarines from Germany after 2000, you have to see the amounts syphoned off to believe them. Says the legal investigation referred to earlier:
The case files on the purchase of German-made submarines and Russian-designed TOR M1 anti-aircraft systems - when Tsohatzopoulos was serving as defence minister- as well as seized documents from the defendants' residences, were all forwarded to the prosecutor's office. Reports claim that among the seized documents are detailed notes allegedly kept by Tsohatzopoulos in the form of a journal which are believed to include names of journalists and military analysts who Akis had on a "payroll" and were more or less accepting kickbacks for being pro-government with funds from several offshore companies.
Some Background to This Story
Between 2002-04, Ferrostaal paid 7.5m euros to PDM and Zelan. No activity of any substance can be traced to this Cypriot-based duo, and all the record of directors have vapourised. But their job was to ‘facilitate contract awards’ by Greek ministries. ‘The complete lack of any documentation supporting performance by these companies raises serious concerns’, says a confidential German report. In 2004, Dusseldorf prosecutors fingered Sotiris Emmanouil, the head of Hellenic Shipyards, as the recipient of illegal bribes running into millions of euros by yet another intermediary – HDW – and a later report showed he had indeed received 2.2 million euros via an affiliate in October of that year. Again, no evidence of services supplied exists. In July 2007, 11 million euros were handed to shady ‘facilitators’ Dolmarton. No back-up of tasks performed.
But when it comes to the Greek government’s purchase of four 214 Class submarines from Germany after 2000, you have to see the amounts syphoned off to believe them. Says the legal investigation referred to earlier:
‘ The Project Archimedes [submarine supply] contract was signed in 2000. It was in the volume of 1.14bn euros…..the [German supplier] consortium incurred additional offset obligations of 1.53 billion euros.’So the price to the Greek taxpayer doubled…. entirely due to corrupt payments made to the Greek governing elite.
A fourth submarine supply contract was signed May 2002. The audit investigation quoted above states that it ‘had a volume of approximately 464.9m euros….and offset obligations of 563 million…’
Again, backhanders doubled the price. And, say several Greek sources, even the ‘real’ price had been stuffed with additional items that represented profiteering by Ferrostaal and its associates. This is hardly surprising when you consider Ferrostaal’s onerous expenses: between 2000 and 2003, the German supplier paid MIE a staggering 84 million euros, of which over 50 million went on bribing the necessary signees in the never-ending line of outstretched hands called the Greek Elite.
But it is the now even more heavily burdened taxpayers of Greece who are paying the price for this crude rip-off. Most of the perpetrators are doing very nicely thank you. For example, Ferrostaal worked with Yannis Beltsios and paid him €1 million because Greek Defense Minister Akis Tsohatzopolous instructed them to. In April 2011, Parliament voted to prosecute Tsohatzopoulos for corruption….but in August, Greece’s Supreme Court ruled against pursuing the bribery charge because the charge of accepting bribes has been barred by the 2005 immunity law.
That law was authored and pushed through by….Evangelos Venizelos. And naturally, Akis Tsochatzopoulos and Evangelos Venizelos have been colleagues together in PASOK for nearly two decades.
Ever more outward go the tentacles of Greek elite squids, these gigantic deep-bribed calamares. George Lanaras’s ex-wife, following years of corrupt sales to South Africa, married F W de Klerk. Lanaras’s son in law Tony Georgiades is a billionaire shipping magnate, and alleged key sanctions-buster under apartheid. He reportedly had the ear of South African President Thabo Mbeki while acting as a lobbyist for Ferrostaal, which led the German submarine global marketing consortium. No matter who’s in power – black or white – these eminences grises are always there in the shadows.
READ MORE BY CLICKING HERE
How Paying Double For German Subs Helped To Sink Greece
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-paying-double-for-german-subs.html
Also
An Introduction And Analysis Of The Siemens and Ferrostaal Scandals
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2012/06/introduction-and-analysis-of-siemens.html
EXPOSED - Classified Documents About Bribery From German Arms Manufacturers To Greek Politicians
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2012/07/exposed-classified-documents-about.html
Forgiving Siemens And German Corruption in Greece
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2012/07/forgiving-siemens-and-german-corruption.html
Posts
