Money trail via Monaco banks led authorities to businessman Thomas Liakounakos, sources say

Gazzetta team 29 Σεπτεμβρίου 2015 - 19:51

A money trail going through the city of Monaco and witness accounts led Greek authorities - specifically Magistrate for Corruption Vasiliki Brati - to issue a warrant for the arrest of Greek businessman Thomas Liakounakos, sources told the ANA-MPA on Tuesday.

This included specific evidence that recently reached the examining magistrate's office concerning more than two million euros deposited in the Monaco bank account of the offshore firm Interaction, in the context of an investigation into a bribery scandal involving the ERIEYE radar systems bought from the Swedish firm Ericsson. The money appears to have been sent by the Swedish firm - currently under investigation in Sweden for allegedly operating slush funds - via Swiss bank accounts.

According to court officials, Liakounakos was arrested based on evidence indicating his involvement with Interaction.

The money in the Monaco accounts was then sent to another two offshore companies, both linked to the business executive and defendant Giorgos Kamaris, who is currently facing charges in connection with a defence contracts kickback case.

Sources said that Kamaris was summoned as a witness by the magistrate investigating the Swedish radar case and testified that the real owner of one of the two firms that received money from the Monaco account was the erstwhile defence ministry arms procurements head Yiannis Sbokos.

The second firm to which money was transferred was linked to asset manager Petros Christodoulides - currently facing charges in connection with the TORM1 case, along with his brother - who told the magistrate that he was acting on Kamaris' orders.

The evidence was sent to Greece via Eurojustice seems to fully support the testimony of a former Ericsson employee concerning the payment of bribes via various companies throughout the world, including Interaction.

Liakounakos, who acted as a commercial agent for Ericsson at the time the deal was made, will testify as a suspect for bribery and money-laundering on Friday. He is accused of paying a bribe of up to 2 million euros to a Greek official to secure the ERINEYE deal in 1999.

The Greek order under scrutiny was for the Ericsson airborne surveillance system Erieye and was worth about 540 million euros.