Galery

1

With 226 votes for, 9 against, 1 abstainer and 5 invalid ballots the plenum of the Greek Parliament approved the proposal of the ruling PASOK party to form a pre-trial committee which will investigate the possible criminal liability of the former Minister of Defence Akis Tsochatzopoulos in the supply of military submarines from German companies.

After several months of waiting the scandal about the purchase of submarines for the Navy came to the Greek Parliament. The Greek media reported that serious revelations would be made, and the Sunday edition of Real news published the results of the judicial investigation in Germany, according to which the former Minister of Defence Akis Tsochatzopoulos received large sums of money from the German consortium ΕΝΑΕ, Ferrostaal AG and HDW to lobby the consortium to be selected as the supplier.
 
According to the report of the ruling PASOK party, Akis Tsochatzopoulos in his capacity as Minister signed on the 15^th of February 2000 the contract "Archimedes", which entrusted the consortium with the task to construct and deliver three submarines 214. The testimony of the executives of the companies made it clear that they had created a system of bribery of political and state representatives in Greece, one of whom was the former Minister of Defence, in order to secure the signing of the contract. The bribe money reached the persons through many and secret channels with the help of advisers, law firms in Zurich and foreign companies established for this purpose. The total amount of the bribes was equal to about 4.5% of the value of the supply, which is estimated at least at 72 million euros.
 
The committee will investigate the possible criminal liability of the former Minister on two offenses: passive bribery to the detriment of the Greek State and legalization of funds from criminal acts. During the deliberations they promised from PASOK that the pre-trial committee would submit its report to the parliamentary plenum very quickly.

The New Democracy’s speaker Kamenos Panos said that the formation of a committee only for the former Minister would mean covering the liability of other persons who he described as frauds. He reiterated his party's request for establishing a control committee to investigate the scandal from the beginning of the negotiations until today.

The representative of the Communist Party also noted that the scale of the scandal is much larger, because "beside Akis Tsochatzopoulos, the contract was signed by other ministers involved in the Government Commission of Foreign Affairs and Defence." He said PASOK and New Democracy are trying to cover the case rather than investigate the entire period from 2000 to 2009.

The extreme rightists of LAOS kept the "promise" of their leader George Karadzaferis not to participate in the vote for the formation of a pre-trial committee, because "it should investigate all persons involved, not just Akis Tsochatzopoulos."

"The discussion of this huge political scandal could not be carried out only about one name and one bribe and not to affect the overall framework within which these criminal acts are developed," said the representative of the left coalition SYRIZA.

The five independent deputies, members of the Democratic Alliance of Dora Bakoyannis, did not take part in the vote either.

The special committee will consist of 13 members, seven of which will be of PASOK, three of New Democracy and one of the other parliamentary parties. Its first meeting is expected to be held next week. The Parliament Speaker Filippos Petsalnikos said that the committee should submit its report and other supporting materials to the plenary not later than the 6^th of June.

Shortly before the vote, the former Minister of Defence Akis Tsochatzopoulos stood before his former colleagues to defend his contribution to the Ministry of Defence and the supply of the submarines and made criticisms to the members of PASOK.

"I have participated in many battles from this podium. Today I am obliged to fight for the truth, to reject a bunch of attacks, lies, slander and mud," he said at the beginning of his speech. Akis Tsochatzopoulos accused the deputies of his party that they are trying to build a Koloseum to destroy one person in order to save others and to obscure the public opinion, and warned them that "those who thought that would create a convenient culprit are wrong."

He said he did not intend to disclose other persons, as is discussed widely in the media, but he would tell the truth, which "will burn the conspirators." The former Minister rejected the accusation that he took bribes and said that the contract was signed in compliance with the procedure determined by the government at that time. He, however, admitted that not everything happened as it should and that is why the Greek justice has been dealing with this issue for 16 months.

The prosecutor’s office in Athens sent subpoenas to 37 people who are associated with the signing of the controversial contract. Most of them are civilian employees of the Ministry of Defence, military, members of committees formed in relation to the supply of the submarines and individual persons.