KYSEA members could be called as Tsochatzopoulos witnesses
A prosecutor recommended on Wednesday that the Athens court hearing the appeal of ex-Defense Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos against his prison term for money laundering should accept the former PASOK veteran’s request for the members of the Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defense (KYSEA) from 1998 to 1999 to be called as witnesses.
Judges in Tsochatzopoulos’s initial trial refused the request despite the ex-minister’s insistence that the former KYSEA members, including the prime minister at the time, Costas Simitis, and ministers Yiannos Papantoniou and Evangelos Venizelos, should answer questions about why they approved arms deals that the ex-defense minister is then alleged to have received bribes for.
The court is expected to decide in the next few days whether to call the KYSEA members to give evidence.
