Court says 64 to be tried in Siemens bribery scandal

The judicial council of the Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that 64 defendants are being indicted to stand trial in the large-scale political bribery case of the so-called 8002 contract to digitize OTE telecom?s network in 1997. According to the case file, Siemens allegedly paid 70 million euros in kickbacks in order to sign the deal.

Among those ordered to stand trial are ex-Siemens Hellas executives Michalis Christoforakos, Christos Karavelas, Ilias Georgiou and Prodromos Mavridis, former PASOK MP Theodoros Tsoukatos, and 13 former OTE executives and former German Siemens executives.

The defendants are facing charges of money laundering and passive and active bribery, among others.

Christoforakos and Karavelas left Greece in 2009. The former was arrested in Germany but a court there refused Greece?s extradition request as the former Siemens Hellas CEO also had a German passport and the judges deemed the statute of limitations applied to allegations he bribed politicians.

The whereabouts of Karavelas, a financial manager, are not known. The judicial council also ruled that Karavelas?s three children were acquitted of all charges.