Papantoniou rebuffs new witness testimony

Former Socialist defense minister Yiannos Papantoniou hit back on Saturday at reports that a witness testimony has implicated him in alleged kickbacks related to the C4I security system for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

Blaming the government for an “outburst of vulgar scandalmongering,” the former minister said he would take legal action once the case file comes to Greece’s Parliament.

He questioned the testimony of the witness who “suddenly remembered, 15 years later, that there were rumors of illegal payments under the PASOK government in the context of the C4I contract, without bringing to light any evidence as there were no illegal payments.”