Greece: 'Siemens scandal deepens'

THE GOVERNMENT wants to lay the Siemens scandal at the door of Pasok. Bribes for contracts to the tune of 100 million euros are alleged to have been made on Pasok's watch and most intensely in the years preceding the 2004 Olympic Games.

The 100m euros allegedly went into Greek bank accounts from 32 different offshore companies, including ones in the Caribbean, Hong Kong, Dubai, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

New Democracy came to power in March 2004, just a few months before the Olympic Games, and while there was plenty of last-minute contracting, the bulk of tenders had been sewn up long before.

"The word is that over 90 percent of the 100m euros went to Pasok people. Most of the Olympic projects had been awarded by the time ND got in. But there may have been some gifts to ND people to keep the wheels smooth after it came to power," a Greek businessman at a state-controlled entity told the Athens News.

"We were all rather taken by surprise over this in the business community as we imagine only Greece suffers in Europe from bribery, and one doesn't expect it in Germany, too," he said.

Senior executives of Siemens Hellas are reportedly in an awkward position as they have been asked to name the Greek politicians and high-ranking state officials who received bribes. If they do not cooperate with the investigation and name the officials, they will reportedly face felony charges against Siemens Germany and could be implicated in accusations of misappropriation of funds.

There is bound to be pressure on three members of the Siemens Hellas management team to testify: Dionysis Dendrinos, who was Siemens director for the Olympic security project which was led by San Diego-based Science Applications International Corporation; Prodromos Mavridis, who was in charge of the telecoms division in Athens but reportedly had powerful managerial ties to Siemens' head offices; and the former CEO of Siemens Hellas, Mihalis Christoforakos, who instigated his own inquiries into the scandal and sent the files to the parent company in Germany.

Three Greek prosecutors will go to Switzerland at the end of next week and then to Munich as part of the investigation. Those accused are likely to face trial by the summer.

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