The former deputy director of armament at the Ministry of National Defense Antonis Kantas is scheduled to appear before the examiner today and is expected to present new evidence regarding the purchase of PZ90 machine guns from German weapons manufacturer Krauss Maffei-Wegmann.
Mr. Kantas has admitted to receiving a 750,000 euro bribe and will present evidence demonstrating how bribes were circulated through a number of offshore companies. The Krauss Maffei-Wegmann representative Dimitris Papachristos has also admitted to having agreed upon the bribe during visit at Mr. Kantas’ office in the Ministry of National Defense. Mr. Papachristos’ son has also been summoned, as he appears to be implicated in the bribery and money laundering scandal.
The courts have also summoned the first German citizen in relation to the armament scandal, Olaf Eschler, who was vice president of the weapons manufacturer at the time of the deal. Mr. Eschler appears to have received a bribe from Mr. Papadopoulos via Switzerland. The German appears to have kept his company in the dark about the bribes.
Banker Fanis Lyginos, who also has the Swiss citizenship, is accused of assisting Mr. Kantas in laundering the bribers he received in various Swiss bank accounts. According to Kantas’ first plea, Mr. Lyginos regularly visited Greece with the explicit intention of participating in the laundering of the millions of euros worth of bribes in the armament scandal, as well as other scandals that were being investigated by Greek authorities.
