2008 Siemens scandal

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The 2008 Siemens scandal in Greece was a corruption and bribery scandal that hit Greece over deals between Siemens AG and Greek government officials during the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens^[1] regarding security systems^[2] and purchases by OTE in the 1990s.^[3]

Charges have, as of 27 August 2008, not been bought against any specific individual, as under Greek law charges can be filled against "any responsible person".^[3]

So far, no wrongdoing has been proved, either by Siemens, by Greek government officials, or anyone else.

Although there is no conclusive evidence, the scandal has created a serious change in the attitudes of the Greek public, most notably a dissatisfaction with both main political parties in Greece, Nea Dimokratia and Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), and the alleged scandal may have been responsible for a shift of the electorate towards "third parties" such as Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) and Popular Orthodox Rally. In Greek press it is claimed that such political dissatisfaction, whether driven by the public imagination or real judicial evidence, may make certain politicians of the two major political parties split and form new parties, possibly destabilising the Greek elections system and creating a "hole of authority" leading to a vicious circle of political instability, if the Greek people don't reach a new consensus over which major political parties best represent their ideals.

It has been claimed that the political outcome of the case may be analogous to that of Italy 15 years ago.^[4]

It has been claimed that the bribes may have been up to 100 million Euro.^[5] These bribes were allegedly given in order to win state contracts.^[1][6]

Contrary to the scandal, Siemens continues to enjoy the confidence of the Greek consumers to its products and there are no data that indicate any shift in the consuming preferences of the Greek customers regarding Siemens and its competitors.

It is that a few PASOK members acting as individuals may have been involved, although this is simply a claim and nothing has been proved or at least any evidence come to light.^[7]

A Greek prosecutor, after two years of investigations, filled charges on 1 July 2008 for money laundering and bribery.^[8]

It has been claimed that it is certain Siemens divisions that were involved in the transactions.^[9]

Tasos Mantelis who was Minister for Transport and Communications during the PASOK administration in 1998 admitted in May 2010 to a parliamentary investigation committee that the sum of 200,000 German marks was deposited in 1998 in a Swiss bank account from Siemens during his administration, allegedly for funding his election campaign. A further depost of 250,000 German marks was made into the same bank account in 2000 which Mantelis claims is from an unknown source.^[10]

See also

• Siemens scandal, refers to the 1914 scandal in Japan that involved "... collusion between several high ranking members of the Imperial Japanese Navy, the British company Vickers and the German industrial conglomerate of Siemens AG."

References