Involvement of Tsohatzopoulos in buyoffs worh 55 million

There has been an extensive report on suspicious pathways for 55 million euro from HDW, a German company, on the equipping of three submarines and the purchase of four more. The report was published in the Monday issue of the German magazine “Der Spiegel”.

According to the German magazine, the German submarine maker had created an entire group with the exclusive project of funding Greek officials. Citing research by German Justice, Der Spiegel implicates the former Minister of National Defence, Akis Tsohatzopoulos, during the period of 2002-2004.

There seem to have been reports by senior company executives on the involvement of former minister, while the article refers to the involvement of Margarita Mathiopoulos, former director of Germanic equipment companies.
The Public Prosecutor in Athens is investigating the case. The prosecutor came into contact with the Munich Prosecutor two months ago.

Commenting on the German publication, the spokesman for the New Democracy party G. Michelakis, urged the government to provide immediate explanations, noting that the case of the purchase of four submarines had been handled by PASOK, both during 2002-2004 and during the “Papanikolis” deal, by the current government of George Papandreou.