Greek Court Indicts 64 in Siemens-OTE Bribery Case

By Stelios Bouras 

ATHENS--Greek authorities have indicted 64 people to stand trial over years-old allegations of bribery involving Siemens AG, the German engineering giant, a court official said Monday.

A probe of corporate dealings from 1992 to 2006 allegedly found that Greece had lost about 70 million euros in the sale of equipment from Siemens to Greek telephone operator Hellenic Telecommunications, also known as OTE, which was still owned by the state at the beginning of that period, the court official said.

A panel of judges decided that those indicted, including both Greek and German nationals, should stand trial for bribery or money laundering. The list of suspects includes former Siemens and OTE officials, while two of the main suspects have left Greece.

Greece has claimed that bribes paid by Siemens executives to various Greek officials from the 1990s to 2007 have cost taxpayers EUR2 billion.

Part of that money is alleged to have ended up in the pockets of senior Greek officials who helped broker the contracts, as well as several former senior officials from the socialist Pasok party. Siemens has said it would cooperate with the Greek government in investigating the bribery charges and has rejected the allegations.

Siemens' offices in Athens and Germany weren't available for comment on the indictments late Monday.

No trial date was set.

Write to Stelios Bouras at [e-mail]

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