Munich - The former director of industrial giant Siemens AG
in Greece, Michalis Christoforakos, has apparently confessed to
charges of bribery, German media reported Saturday.
The Greek manager, on remand in a Munich prison, reportedly
described payoffs made by Siemens to secure a large contract for the
Athens Olympics in 2004, according to German daily Sueddeutsche
Zeitung (SZ) and weekly Spiegel news magazine.
Christoforakos, who holds a German passport, reportedly denied
claims that he was personally involved in bribery payments for a 500
million-euro deal with Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation
(OTE).
SZ further reported that Christoforakos had also confessed that
sums had been paid to the two leading political parties in Greece,
PASOK and the New Democracy Party.
Munich's senior prosecutor Anton Winkler refused to confirm the
reports, while Christoforakos' lawyer Stefan Kursawe said at most his
client had invested in relations with important contacts.
'My client doesn't have the slightest to do with direct bribery
payments for contracts,' Kursawe told Spiegel.
The former head of Siemens Hellas fled Greece mid-May. He was
arrested in the southern German state of Bavaria two weeks ago.
Greek authorities have charged a total of six former Siemens
Greece officials, two of whom are in jail pending trial as well a
former official with the country's largest telecom company OTE.
Siemens is under investigation in several countries over
allegations of bribery and corruption in its communications sector.
The company launched its own investigations and is cooperating
with foreign officials in all investigations outside of Germany.
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