Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-07-13

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Siemens trial adjournments prompt PM to intervene

[02] Security forces need solutions free of ideological inflexibility, Mitsotakis says

[03] Judge's death may result in 2nd 'indefinite adjournment' of Siemens bribery case

[01] Siemens trial adjournments prompt PM to intervene

On Tuesday, the trial was postponed for an indefinite period because the court accepted the objections of the foreign defendants who claimed that the charge sheet had not been translated in their native language - French and German - which renders it invalid.

In an effort to resolve the impasse, Paraskevopoulos will meet with Supreme Court Prosecutor Xeni Dimitriou on Thursday and ask her to order that the Siemens trial be tried as a matter of absolute priority as provided for in Article 30 par. 3 of the Criminal Procedure Code in cases of "exceptional nature".

Earlier on Wednesday, Dimitriou ordered the immediate start of a preliminary disciplinary inquiry to determine why the Siemens corruption trial was indefinitely adjourned and assign responsibility where appropriate. The investigation has been assigned to Supreme Court Deputy Prosecutor Anna Zairi.

Sources with the Appeals Prosecutor's office on Wednesday insisted that the problems with the high-profile OTE-Siemens trial were due to foreign ministry's delay in translating some documents and the court's decision not to reject the objections of the foreign defendants.

"We delivered the summons to the defendants for the Siemens case without the full translation of the foreign ministry to halt the period of lapse," the sources said, responding to severe criticism over the indefinite interruption of the trial announced by the court on Tuesday.

The so-called cash-for-contract case concerns an investigation into claims that the German company bribed politicians to win a contract Greek telecoms company OTE for the digitalisation of the company's call centers. The suspects include former Siemens and OTE executives, who are accused of money laundering, offering and accepting bribes and acting as accomplices in the above acts. On Tuesday, the trial was postponed for an indefinite period because the court accepted the objections of the defendants who claimed that the charge sheet had not been translated into French and German, which renders it invalid.

The same sources said the foreign ministry didn't deliver in time all the passages of the decree before the trial started in November 2015, but were delivered on May 2016, when the trial had already started. They added that Appeals Prosecutor's office send the summons to the defendants without waiting for the French and German translations to stop it from being statute-barred.

Commenting on the court's decision, the Appeals Prosecutor's office said it didn't expect it to accept the objections raised by the defendants and were "absolutely certain" these claims would have been rejected, as there is a precedent with the trial of Turkish nationals charged with terrorism, whose similar claims had been dismissed.

The foreign ministry, meanwhile, has strenuously denied that it delayed delivery of the translations.

Adding to the furore surrounding the OTE-Siemens case came the announcement on Wednesday that the trial of former minister Tasos Mantelis for accepting a bribe believed linked to the controversial contract may also be indefinitely adjourned, due to the death of the presiding judge.

[02] Security forces need solutions free of ideological inflexibility, Mitsotakis says

ND's leader said the security forces must be supported with the best possible solutions to succeed in their task, without the inflexibility of hidebound ideology, while criticising the government for an economic policy that not only impoverished Greek people but also had serious repercussions on security conditions in the country.

"Today I had the opportunity to be briefed by the representatives of the security forces about the situation and the problems that the personnel of the Hellenic Police, fire brigade and coast guard are daily called on to deal with, often under adverse conditions," Mitsotakis said.

He said the discussion had touched on a series of institutional issues that concerned the smooth operation of the security forces that have also been presented to the government officially but have not been suitably resolved, with serious repercussions on the day-to-day life of civilians.

[03] Judge's death may result in 2nd 'indefinite adjournment' of Siemens bribery case

The case against Mantelis and another four defendants facing charges for accepting bribes from the Siemens parent company in Germany had gone to trial on November 11, 2013 but made halting progress due to an ongoing lawyers' strike and serious health problems faced by the 58-year-old presiding judge. The latter had caused the trial to be adjourned until September 19 but the judge's unexpected death has cast the entire trial in limbo. Even though it was expected to be lengthy, no replacement judges had been selected, meaning that the court will have to adjourn and wait for a new trial date the next time it reconvenes.

Mantelis and the other four defendants are on trial for an alleged bribe given to him in two installments, which he had claimed to be a Siemens campaign contribution to support his election bid. The case forms part of a larger case concerning the contract signed between the Greek state telecoms firm OTE and Siemens when Mantelis was minister in 1997. This case was also indefinitely postponed on Tuesday on a technicality, resulting from a failure to present the foreign defendants on trial with a copy of indictment and charges translated into their language.

The charges against Mantelis claim that the former minister accepted the sum of 450,000 marks (230,000 euros) from Siemens in 1998 and 2000 through a Swiss bank account under the name Rocos, in exchange for giving Siemens the OTE contract. Others facing charges in connection with the bribery case were his friend Giorgos Tsougranis, tax official Antonia Markou, former Siemens Hellas executive Ilias Georgiou and a former associate, Aristidis Mantas.

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