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| Yiannos Papantoniou Spilios Spiliotopoulos Vangelis Meimarakis |
A prosecutor will determine if three former Greek defense ministers
will be investigated over the purchase of three submarines for the navy, authorities say.
Supreme Court deputy prosecutor Athanasios Katsirodis, who will have the final say on whether the details should be sent on to Parliament, has been given the evidence in a case file concerning events between 2002 and 2009, Ekathimerini reported Thursday.
Prosecutors have called a total of 37 people, including high-ranking members of the armed forces and businessmen, to answer questions about allegations of bribery linked to the purchase of the four submarines, the newspaper said.
Greece ordered the Type 214 diesel-electric submarines, manufactured by ThyssenKrupp in Germany, between 2001 and 2005 in a deal worth $1.8 billion.
Investigators allege the bill was inflated, allowing for more under-the-table payments to be made, by the navy and Defense Ministry asking for the submarines to be fitted with a variety of extra equipment.
Yiannos Papantoniou, Spilios Spiliotopoulos and Vangelis Meimarakis were defense ministers during the period in question, Ekathimerini reported.
source: iwire news
