Greek taxpayers have recently learned that millions of euros were illegally paid out of Siemens’s coffers.

Citizens who pay their taxes and still live in fear of the tax authorities have a right to ask if and when any investigation will be conducted into the extremely serious violations of the tax code committed by the German electronics giant, the company’s former managing director in Greece Michalis Christoforakos, the firm’s other executives, PASOK’s Theodoros Tsoukatos and indeed anyone else directly or indirectly involved in unlawful, undeclared “funding.”

Wherever this has been shown to have taken place, either by admission or weight of evidence, it is clear that the corresponding penalties should be imposed.

This is self-evident; it is the least people expect in such circumstances. In other countries it is something that is taken for granted.

We hope that this very worrying aspect of the Siemens bribery scandal will not go the same way as other serious cases, the files on which continue to gather dust.