A Swiss senior banker who was among the key suspects in the so-called Siemens scandal as well as in armament programs scandals is currently being held in custody in Greece, as the country’s media pressed earlier today.
An international arrest warrant as been issued for the banker, identified as Jean-Claude Oswald, for some time but he was only recently arrested in Abu Dhabi. The Swiss authorities, though, have initially denied the expatriation of the former executive at BNP Paribas and Dresdner Bank to Greece. According to the same sources, the Swiss national, has already faced a prosecutor in Athens and has been given time to prepare his deposition.
The Siemens bribery scandal was a corruption and bribery case that hit Greece over deals between the German colossal Siemens AG and Greek government officials during the 2004 Summer Olympic Games that took place in Athens regarding security systems and purchases by OTE (Hellenic Telecommunications Organization) in the 1990s.
Similarly, the armament scandal was revealed after former deputy director for procurements at the Defense Ministry Antonis Kantas testified he took nearly 12 million euros in bribes to approve contracts for German, French, Russian and other foreign arms manufacturers. The contracts included purchases of submarines, tanks, fighter jets and missiles. The contracts were awarded in the late 1990s and early 2000s under the PASOK socialist government, during a time when tension with Turkey was high and authorities decided to update Greece’s military forces.
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