Submarine probe sinks two more

Sotiris Emmanouel was an executive at the shipyards, shown to have received 24 million euros in October 2001, through Inveco, a firm that is seen as belonging to him.

Ioannis Beltsios had been secretary general, in 1988, at the interior ministry, when Akis Tsohatzopoulos was minister, while afterwards he was placed in key positions in various state organizations.

As is pointed out by media sources, the shipyards were of vital importance for HDW, citing a deposition by former Ferrostaal director Hans-Peter Muehlenbeck, to Munich prosecution in which he stated, “we would have had a problem if Mr Emmanouel had not collaborated with us, but had gone over to the French.” Afterwards, Muehlenbeck spoke directly of payoffs given to Emmanouel and union reps.

Mr Muehlenbeck had first mentioned Sotiris Emmanouel and his relations wih Inveco in preliminary inquiries, in 2004, in Dusseldorf, after the offshore firm had already been named by Der Spiegel as a recipient of money. Later, in July 2010, in Munich, Muehlenbeck had connected the firm with payments from HDW worth 17 million euros, as well as linking the firm to Emmanouel.

In 2011, former directors of Ferrostaal, Johann Friedrich Haun and Hans-Peter Muehlenbeck were fined 36,000 euros and 18,000 euros respectively, and sentenced to a suspended sentence for their role in bribing foreign officials, while Ferrostaal, accused of the crime of 'obtaining an economic advantage' through its two employees, was fined 140 million euros, to be paid by 2014, in three installments. Among the beneficiaries of the €62 million paid in bribes was the former Greek Defence Minister Akis Tsochatzpoulos.