A three-justice Athens appellate court on Monday handed down mostly the maximum possible prison sentences to defendants convicted last month in the more than decade-old Siemens bribery and money laundering case – although four of the most prominent suspects were tried in absentia after fleeing the country years ago.
Amid the protracted investigation and subsequent court proceedings, former Siemens Greece CEO Michalis Christoforakos fled to Germany in 2009, where he also holds citizenship, while a one-time executive for the previously state-run telephony utility, OTE, Christos Karavelas, reportedly fled to South America.
Both men were handed down a 15-year term and hefty fines. Christoforakos was convicted in Germany to a non-jail term for Siemens-related kickbacks and reportedly lives in Bavaria, while Karavelas fled to Uruguay, media reports claimed in the late 2000s.
The same sentence was handed down to another top OTE executive and the former head of the parent company, Heinrich von Pierer.
A total of 22 defendants, both Greek and German nationals, including former OTE and Siemens executives, two businessmen, and three bankers, were convicted and handed down prison terms, with many, however, avoiding prison time due to a suspended sentence, fleeing the country or by having died over the past 14 years since prosecutors commenced an investigation.
A trio of defendants, Prodromos Mavridis, Giorgos Skarpelis and Martha Karavela, were the only ones taken into custody to serve jail time, after the court ruled against a suspended sentenced.
