The Best of GRReporter
flag_bg flag_gr flag_gb

Commissions played a major role in terms of armament, according to the apocalyptic evidence of Antonis Kantas

28 December 2013 / 19:12:27  GRReporter
17460 reads

"...I also received an illegal fee for the Kornet anti-tank missiles, which the Ministry delivered on behalf of the land forces from the Russian company KPB. The total value of the supplies amounted to 100 million dollars or euro. My commission was impressively large - 3% of the value of the programme. Konstantinos Dafermos represented the manufacturing company, whom I did not know initially. Then, in 2000, two events happened: at the Greek- Russian meeting on cooperation in defence, my Russian colleague approached me and told me that the delivery could be made via the state-owned company, renamed to ROSOBONEXPORT... Manufacturer ΚΒΡ learned about that and a senior official of the company, accompanied by Mr Dafermos came to my office one day. Another representative of KBP asked whether we had had any problems with Mr Dafermos, since another Greek source informed them that there had been problems with the judiciary. I replied that I had no such information.

A few days later, he visited me and thanked me and asked me what I wanted from this contract. I said nothing and upon leaving he told me that he would give me 3%, which amounted to 3 million dollars or euro. I did not believe it, but actually I was given a large part, 700,000 in cash in Greece and the rest was deposited in my account at UBS in Geneva...

The bank asked me about it and I told them that it was a fee for a technical and financial study. I received 700,000 in 2 instalments in late 2001 and early 2002. I received them in his office and at the beginning I hid them in the basement of my home, and then - in my safe at CITI BANK in Faliro. I was very surprised when the scandal with Siemens broke out in 2008 and my name was mentioned in it. Allegedly, Prodromos Mavridis’s offshore company Martha Holdings transferred the amount into my personal Swiss account. But the money was not from Siemens; it was from KPB for KORNET systems...

"Nikolaidis also asked me for money"

In 2002, I met Pavlos Nikolaidis. He was a close friend and best man of Akis Tsochatzopoulos. He asked me to transfer to him some of the money which I had received from Dafermos. When I told him (Dafermos), he told me that he had arranged everything...

I got 1.7 million for air defence systems

"The General Staff had decided for the short-range air defence system OSA ΑΜΚ at the amount of 100 million in 1998... At that time we had a meeting in Moscow... Lambros Bardzokas appeared as a representative and translator of the Russian state company... He said that if the programme continued, I would receive a generous gift..."

In total, from 1999 to 2003-2004, the company transferred 1.7 million dollars to the Swiss bank FERRIER Lullin in Geneva... One of the remittances came from New York.

"I also received a commission for the WEGMANN system. The General Staff had asked the Minister to deliver the specific self-propelled guns, the representative of which was Dimitris Papachristos... He told me that I would receive a commission to the amount of 0.5% of the value of the programme, or 150 million euro. Following the signing of the contract, a bank account was opened in UBP in Zurich. The money was deposited via the company OXYLOS, which he owned... He gave me cash in his office in Bucharest..."

After that Kantas explained that Ioannis Toumbas had transferred 150,000 euro for the ASEP monitoring system. He also received about 240,000 euro from businessman Balerbas for the ARTHUR radar produced by ERICSSON.

A bribe for the Mirage aircraft

"I received a commission to the amount of 800,000 euro from the programme for the delivery of Mirage aircraft from Pavlos Nikolaidis in 3-4 instalments... He accompanied a Greek from Rhodes, a friend of Prime Minister Jospin... The first instalment was delivered in my office in the Ministry, and the rest - in my private office... I also received a commission in cash from the Director of the company Kestrel, Komnopoulos, who represented the company EXOSET. He visited me in my office. He gave me 400,000 euro in the period 2001-2004.

"...The next programme was for 2 LOPARD with a provider KRAUSSMAFFEI WEGMANN. It was represented by Thomas Liakounakos. He had mediated many weapons programmes. I met him in 1988. I do not remember how much money he gave me..."

According to Kantas, the first talks between Liakounakos, Sbokos and Tsochatzopoulos were held in the political office of Tsochatzopoulos. "I was informed that Tsochatzopoulos would receive the money from the companies, Yiannis Sbokos - from Liakounakos, and from Apostolou at a lower level. After that, Liakounakos tried to meet me, sending Apostolou and Arkoumaneas.

"Do not take the weapons"

"When Yiannis Papantoniou became Minister, I had prepared to resign. He did not accept my resignation, and then I told him why the programme for the Leopard 2 was running, that the costs of the programme were very large and that it was unnecessary. He replied that we could not refuse the military because both the Air Force and Navy had already received something... After that he did not call me any more. In December, I received Liakounakos in my office late in the afternoon, and he told me not to object to the procedure of the delivery of Leopard2. He carried a travel bag with him…" Here Kantas talked about the aforementioned 600,000 euro...

Question: If you received 600,000 euro in order not to object, in your opinion, how much did those who submitted and approved the programme (Travlos and Papantoniou) receive?

Answer: Since I received 600,000 euro, given that I left before the signing and implementation of the programme, it is not possible that the people mentioned by you did not receive commissions, and I think the amounts were larger...

Tags: Antonis Kantas Ministry of Defence armament programmes bribery
SUPPORT US!
GRReporter’s content is brought to you for free 7 days a week by a team of highly professional journalists, translators, photographers, operators, software developers, designers. If you like and follow our work, consider whether you could support us financially with an amount at your choice.
Subscription
You can support us only once as well.
blog comments powered by Disqus