Prosecutor proposes indictment of 11 people in connection with arms procurement kickbacks

Appeals court prosecutor Pantelis Stragalis on Wednesday proposed the indictment of 11 people in connection with kickbacks allegedly pocketed from the acquisition of self-propelled howitzers manufactured by German firm Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW).

The 11 defendants include Antonis Kantas, formerly deputy head of procurement at the Greek Defense Ministry, Swiss-French banker Jean-Claude Oswald, who is alleged to be a key figure in the Siemens cash-for-contracts scandal, and lawyer Spyros Metaxas.

Among those originally implicated in the affair but not being proposed for indictment are Kantas's spouse and son and the former vice president of KMW, Olaf Essler.