The Greek authorities announced the arrest of French banker Jean-Claude Oswald – a key div in the armaments and Siemens scandals – in Abu Dhabi. Mr. Oswald was arrested on a European arrest warrant and is accused of laundering hundreds of millions of euros.
Although Mr. Oswald holds the French citizenship and the Swiss refused to extradite him to Greece, the Greek authorities managed to arrest the wanted banker in a transit area in Abu Dhabi. The banker was secretly transferred to Athens where he will face the prosecutor over the next few days and address the charges against him.
According to reports, Mr. Oswald appears to have cooperated with Fanis Lyginos – also wanted by the Greek authorities – and laundered the money of bribes handed out in various armament deals, via Swiss banks and offshores in tax havens. The authorities expect to extract important information from the banker, as he appears to be aware of state officials who received bribes.
Additionally, Mr. Oswald appears to have been involved in the Siemens scandal and is alleged to have received suitcases of money from Prodromos Mavridis – who is also accused of being involved in the scandal. The Oswald-Mavridis-Lyginos connection in turn revealed the implication of former armaments director Antonis Kantas, who received a 500,000 euro bribe from the purchase of a Cornet missile system.
