New case file against former defense minister reaches Parliament
A new case file investigating charges against former Socialist defense minister Yiannos Papantoniou of repeated passive bribery was sent to Parliament on Monday afternoon, as part of the probe into alleged kickbacks related to the C4I security system Greece acquired for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
Among the documents included in the file is nine pages of sworn testimony by Evangelos Vasilakos, the former director general of the Defense Ministry’s General Directorate of Defense Armaments and Investment from April 2006 to October 2010.
The charge refers to an alleged bribe in excess of 150,000 euros which the former minister is believed to have taken for the system’s acquisition and installation.
Papantoniou and his wife Stavroula Kourakou have been at Attica’s high-security Korydallos Prison since October 24, pending trial over charges of money laundering linked to an investigation into a separate state defense contract.
According to the older file, Papantoniou is accused of laundering 2.8 million euros in Swiss Francs that he is alleged to have pocketed in exchange for securing a contract in 2003 to upgrade six Hellenic Navy frigates. He has denied the charges.
