Prosecutor in Siemens trial: 35 mln euros were paid to secure contracts

With the trial of dozens implicated in the long-running Siemens cash-for-contracts scandal gradually coming to an end, a prosecutor on Monday claimed that the equivalent of 35 million euros in illicit payments were made to secure state deals.

According to the prosecutor, Eleni Skeparnia, a total of 69 million German marks were paid to various recipients for the so-called 8002 contract, for Siemens to digitize the network of OTE telecom, in 1997, and subsequent related contracts.

Of the dozens of people implicated in the scandal, most are either Siemens or OTE executives. Skeparnia proposed that most of the defendants be cleared, calling for five executives to be convicted. 

The only politician found to have received money was Theodoros Tsoukatos, a one-time aide to former socialist premier Costas Simitis, who has already admitted to collecting 1 million marks...