Apostolos-Athanasios Tsochatzopoulos

Apostolos-Athanasios Tsochatzopoulos

Apostolos-Athanasios "Akis" Tsochatzopoulos ( Greek Απόστολος-Αθανάσιος "Άκης" Τσοχατζόπουλος , born July 31, 1939 in Athens ; † August 27, 2021 in Piraeus ) was a Greek politician ( PASOK ). He was a member of the Greek Parliament , interior minister several times and minister of defense from 1996 to 2001. He was sentenced to 19 years imprisonment for taking bribes when purchasing the Russian Tor M1 missile system and German class 214 submarines for the Greek armed forces.

Life

Tsochatzopoulos grew up in simple circumstances in Thessaloniki . He studied civil engineering in Munich and graduated with the titles of Diplom-Ingenieur and Diplom-Wirtschaftsingenieur . He then began working for 16 years as a civil engineer in Munich and Athens , mainly in the field of public buildings. From exile, Tsochatzopoulos supported the resistance movement against the Greek military dictatorship . In 1969 his citizenship was revoked by the colonel's regime. He became a member of the PAK ( Panhellenic Liberation Movement ) and was a member of the National Council from 1972 . After the fall of the junta in 1974, he returned to Greece.

In 1974 he became a founding member of PASOK and was an uninterrupted member of the Executive Committee until April 2011. Since November 1990 he has been Secretary General of PASOK. From 1981 he held ministerial posts in various governments.

From 1981 to 2009 he was a member of the Greek Parliament and headed various ministries:

• Minister for Public Works (1981–1985)
• Minister to the Prime Minister (1985–1987)
• Interior Minister (1987–1989)
• Minister for Transport and Communications (1989–1990, in the coalition government)
• Interior Minister (1993–1995)
• Defense Minister (1996-2001)
• Development Minister (2001-2004)

In 1996 he competed with Konstantinos Simitis to succeed Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou ; in an internal party vote, he received 75 votes and Simitis 86 votes.

Legal proceedings

Since 2010, Tsochatzopoulos' real estate business has been the subject of public prosecutor investigations and an investigation by the PASOK "Transparency Committee" (a disciplinary committee): A few days before a tax change came into force, the ex-minister and his wife had a piece of land at the foot of the Acropolis for one million euros an " offshore " company, thereby enabling this company to make substantial tax savings. On April 11, 2011, the Bureau decided to expel him from the party.

An investigative committee of the parliament in Athens also saw allegations of bribery against Tsochatzopoulos in connection with a purchase of German submarines as corroborated. The Greek parliament investigated on the basis of information provided to the Athens public prosecutor by the colleagues in Munich. In 2000, Greece bought four Type 214 submarines worth EUR 2.85 billion in Germany. According to investigations by German authorities, the former MAN subsidiary Ferrostaal is said to have paid bribes amounting to millions. Tsochatzopoulos said on television that the allegations were false; the judiciary will clarify the case. In June 2011, his immunity for the previous legislative period was lifted. He was arrested on April 11, 2012 on suspicion of corruption and, after interrogation, was detained in Korydallos prison on April 16 on suspicion of persistence and the risk of escape and new offenses .

The Swiss Federal Prosecutor had Tsochatzopoulos' assets of 10 million Swiss francs blocked at a bank in Switzerland on suspicion of money laundering .

On March 4, 2013, Tsochatzopoulos was sentenced to eight years imprisonment and a fine of 520,000 euros for tax evasion, and his property was confiscated.

Another criminal trial began on April 22, 2013, in which Tsochatzopoulos, his daughter, his divorced wife and 16 other defendants faced charges of corruption , money laundering and the formation of a criminal organization . According to the indictment, bribes totaling 160 million euros were paid for the purchase of submarines , missile defense systems and other weapon systems in Germany and Russia, which were laundered via offshore companies and the purchase or renovation of real estate. On October 7, 2013, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Athens Criminal Court for corruption and money laundering; his real estate property was confiscated. On July 2, 2018, he was released on health grounds.

Web links

Commons : Apostolos Tsochatzopoulos  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Apostolos Tsochatzopoulos , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 36/2004 of September 4, 2004, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ focus.de: Monk, gangster, politician: How the Greek police dug up a mafia network
2. ^ Iro Theophanides: The Prosecutor's Office is Knocking on A. Tsochatsopoulos Door . In: greekreporter.com .
3. ↑ PASOK ready to oust ex-minister over home deal - News - ekathimerini.com . In: ekathimerini.com .
4. ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE: AFFAIRS: The Greek friend . In: spiegel.de .
5. ^ U-boat purchase: Parliament in Athens sees suspicion of bribery corroborated . In: wallstreet-online.de . June 6, 2011.
6. ^ German submarine deal: Greek ex-minister in custody on suspicion of corruption , Spiegel Online , April 11, 2012
7. ↑ Tsochatzopoulos in prison , NZZ , April 17, 2012
8. ↑ FAZ of April 12, 2013: Switzerland blocks funds from former Greek ministers
9. ↑ Greek ex-minister Tsochatzopoulos has to be imprisoned for eight years , Spiegel Online, March 4, 2013
10. ↑ Greece newspaper of April 24, 2013, p. 4: The man who sees himself as a whipping boy
11. ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE: Greek ex-minister Tsochatzopoulos has to go to prison for 20 years . In: SPIEGEL ONLINE . October 7, 2013.
12. ^ Former Greek minister in custody. In: ORF . October 24, 2018, accessed October 24, 2018 . 
13. ↑ https://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2021/08/27/tsochatzopoulos-pasok-scandal-convict-death