Apostolopoulos testified on bribery charges

Apostolopoulos, who testified for approximately three hours, did not make any statements on leaving the courthouse.

According to reports, in his testimony, Apostolopoulos did not deny to the prosecutor that he had met with Haikalis and confirmed that he was the man heard speaking in the recording of the meeting leaked to the press. In the recording, Apostolopoulos is heard offering a cash bribe of 700,000 euros and other incentives.

However he argued that it was Haikalis who made the first openings to him about potentially receiving compensation for changing his vote. Apostolopoulos maintained that he subsequently took the initiative to try and trap the MP to prove to Panos Kammenos, the leader of Haikalis’s party, that the MP was willing to accept a bribe. He reportedly stated that he wanted to prove that the MP, with whom he said he had a friendly relationship and met with often, was untrustworthy. However Haikalis and Kammenos had effectively beaten him to the punch by going to the police.

The same sources say that Apostolopoulos told the prosecutor that there was evidence from the meeting in question that backs up his claim.