The Five-Judge Court of Criminal Appeals fully acquitted 20 out of 22 people of money laundering charges in the context of the SIEMENS scandal in Greece. For most of the defendants, the prosecution was terminated due to the statute of limitations.
The twenty people involved in the Siemens kickbacks case were acquitted in the second degree by the Greek Justice, almost two decades after the scandal broke out.
The Siemens bribery scandal in Greece is a corruption and bribery scandal over deals between Siemens and Greek government officials during the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, regarding security systems and purchases by public telecommunications company OTE in the 1990s.
It has been claimed that the bribes may have been up to 100 million Euro, These bribes were allegedly given in order to win state contracts
The decision issued by the Five-member Court of Criminal Appeals on Monday is acquittal -unanimously or by majority- for all, for the charge of money laundering.
In most cases, the criminal prosecution for the acts committed before 2002 was definitively ended due to the statute of limitations.
It is worth noting that implicitly but not very clearly the court ruled that there was no enrichment with a simple reasoning that raises many questions, media like news247.gr and daily avgi.gr reported..
According to news247.gr, the president of the court stated that: “The illegal increase in the wealth of public servants did not arise or was not proven, with the result that this goes backwards for all the accused.”
Two of those allegedly involved the the process were Christos Karavelas who remains fugitive (he has been sentenced to 15 years in prison) and Dimitris Gyftopoulos who has died.
Michalis Christoforakos, the SIEMENS Hellas who fled to Germany and remained there with his dual citizenship, was also acquitted by a majority of 4-1 (one member was of the opinion that the criminal prosecution should be declared inadmissible due to a statute of limitations) is permanently terminated.
Acquitted were also the eight top German executives.
The Court of Appeals revoked also all previous court decisions that had found guilty the SIEMENS and OTE executives as well as bankers and businessmen and sentenced them accordingly.
According to STAR TV the Supreme Court will appeal Monday’s decision.
PS End good, all good. = no scandal
As someone said: time heals all scandals and crimes….
“As someone said: time heals all scandals and crimes….”
…but Greek citizens continue to pay the cost.
Dragging it out indefinetly is the 21st technique. Still waiting for the investigation of 9/11, now twenty one years ago.