The appeal on appeal of former leaders of Siemens, accused of having received important bribes, shocks the country, which is still struggling to attack corruption affairs.
by
In Greece, the acquittal on the appeal of former officials of the German company Siemens, prosecuted within the framework of one of the largest corruption cases, caused a stir. The case dates back to the late 1990s, when modernizing the telephone network. Inflated contracts are then signed between Siemens and the public electricity company, and bribes are distributed to officials of German society but also to Greek politicians. According to officials from the Greek subsidiary of Siemens, 130 million marks have been paid. In 2011, in the midst of an economic crisis, a parliamentary commission of inquiry had estimated that this scandal had cost around 2 billion euros in the country.
Monday, September 26, after sixteen years of procedure and numerous postpones, the Athens Court of Appeal acquitted 20 people who had been sentenced at first instance in 2019 to fifteen years in prison for corruption. Even the former boss of the Greek subsidiary of Siemens, Michalis Christophorakos, who had fled to Germany at the start of the investigation, did not receive any trouble. The reason ? The facts are prescribed.
Immediately, all the media shouted in scandal. The left -wing weekly Documento described the acquittal as “provocation”, considering that the Greeks had endured numerous austerity measures during the crisis because of all the corruption affairs that had cost the Greek state. The Kathimerini Center Journal underlined “the bitter taste” left by this case and “the inability of the political and judicial system to carry out an investigation which has lasted sixteen”. TA NEA (Center right) has noted that “a case that occupied public opinion and shaken the Greek political scene is closed in a hurry and put under the” carpet of prescription “”.
“The feeling of injustice hovers everywhere”
Surprised by this acquittal, even the prosecutor of the Court of Cassation, Isidoros Dogiakos, ordered a preliminary investigation to determine the reasons for the slow procedure which led to the prescription.
On the site News247 , the editorialist Yannis Albanis believes that” in Greece, the elite thinks that citizens are so resigned or so cynical (or both) that they will not react “. However, on social networks, the anger of many Greeks has also exploded. “Is that then justice? A washing machine [who] whitens Christophorakos and the other accused!”, Sets up a user on Twitter. “We live in a country where you go to prison for nothing and where, when you steal the state, you are congratulated,” add another.
You have 55.83% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.