The full acquittal of the defendants connected to the the notorious case of the «black funds» of the German giant Siemens the Five-Member Criminal Court of Appeal, after a month-long hearing. Essentially, the Greek Justice concluded that there was absolutely no scandal.
In particular, the 20 of the 22 total defendants were found not guilty either by a majority or unanimously, or the limitation period for the money laundering charge has expired, while for most of them it was considered that the prosecution for acts committed until 2002 should be definitively terminated due to the limitation period.
For Christos Karavelas who to this day is still on the run, and against him is serving a 15-year sentence by the trial court, his criminal treatment was not reviewed as there was no appeal on his part. Also, no judgment was pronounced on Dim. Among those acquitted, Mich. Christoforakos, G. Skarpelis and the German executives Kuchenroiter, Zikacek and others.
The court's verdict was delivered within an hour. This puts an end to a controversial case that was considered perhaps the most important of the post-war period, as it was considered a major financial scandal. It concerned the contract 8002/1997 between OTE and Siemens for the digitisation of OTE.
The trial court had raised the issue of the statute of limitations for a large part of the charges, as the case has been under the microscope of the authorities for 15 years. After all, of the original 64 defendants, the three-judge Criminal Court of Appeal finally ruled in favour of 54, as the other ten had passed away.
The President of the Chamber delivered a simple reasoning, saying: «No illegal increase in the property of the public servants has been established or proved, with the result that this goes backwards for all the accused.»
The decision
In detail, the decision of the Court of Appeal is as follows:
Michael Christoforakos: definitively terminated the prosecution for acts committed up to 2002 and acquitted for the others by a majority of 4-1 (one member was of the opinion that the prosecution should have been declared inadmissible on the grounds of res judicata).
Prodromos Mavridis: definitively terminated the prosecution for the acts committed up to 2002 and acquitted for the others by a majority of 4-1 (one member was of the opinion that the prosecution should have been declared inadmissible on the grounds of res judicata).
Alexandros Athanasiadis: definitively terminates the prosecution for the acts committed up to 2002 and unanimously acquits the other acts.
Karl Friedrich Eduard PIERER From ESCH: definitively terminates the prosecution for the acts committed up to 2002 and unanimously acquits the other acts.
Thomas GANSWINDT: definitively terminated the prosecution for the acts committed up to 2002 and acquitted for the others by a majority of 4-1 (one member was of the opinion that the prosecution should have been declared inadmissible on the grounds of res judicata).
Jörg Michael KUTSCHENREUTER: definitively terminated the prosecution for the acts committed up to 2002 and acquitted for the others by a majority of 4-1 (one member was of the opinion that the prosecution should have been declared inadmissible on the grounds of res judicata).
Reinhard Herbert SIEKACZEK: definitively terminated the prosecution for the acts committed up to 2002 and acquitted for the others by a majority of 4-1 (one member was of the opinion that the prosecution should have been declared inadmissible on the grounds of res judicata).
Wolfgang Paul Wilhelm RUDOLPH: definitively terminates the prosecution for the acts committed up to 2002 and unanimously acquits the other acts.
Heinz Wolfgang Ernst Keil From JAGEMANN: definitively terminated the prosecution for the acts committed up to 2002 and acquitted for the others by a majority of 4-1 (one member was of the opinion that the prosecution should have been declared inadmissible on the grounds of res judicata).
Franz Joseph RICHTER: definitively terminates the prosecution for the acts committed up to 2002 and unanimously acquits the other acts.
George Scarpelis: shall definitively terminate the prosecution for all acts, due to the statute of limitations.
Nicholas NINDO: shall definitively terminate the prosecution for all acts, due to the statute of limitations.
George Argyropoulos: shall definitively terminate the prosecution for all acts, due to the statute of limitations.
Dimitrios Kouvatsos: definitively terminates the prosecution for the acts committed up to 2002 and unanimously acquits the other acts.
Panagiotis Nikakis: definitively terminated the prosecution for the acts committed up to 2002 and acquitted for the others by a majority of 4-1 (one member was of the opinion that the prosecution should have been declared inadmissible on the grounds of res judicata).
George Kaldis: definitively terminates the criminal proceedings for the acts committed up to 2002 and acquits the others.
Alexandros Letsas: definitively terminates the criminal proceedings for the acts committed up to 2002 and acquits the others.
Fanis Lyginos: definitively terminates the criminal proceedings for the acts committed up to 2002 and acquits the others.
Jean Claude OSWALD: definitively terminates the criminal proceedings for the acts committed up to 2002 and acquits the others.
Martha Dimitriadis-Karavela: Innocent
