Siemens fugitive likely to be extradited
It is very likely that Michalis Christoforakos, the former CEO of Siemens Hellas, will be extradited to Greece even if he stands trial in Germany, according to a spokesman of the prosecutor’s office there. Alfons Obermeier said that evidence presented by Greek judicial officials upon their visit to Germany was satisfactory and that only some clarification remained. He said Christoforakos’s lawyers were mistaken if they believed he would not be extradited. According to sources, the Germans want assurances that Christoforakos will serve in Greece whatever sentence is passed on him in Germany, which is more lenient than Greek law on the charges he faces. It has emerged that German prosecutors are not happy with the stance adopted by Christoforakos. Judicial sources in Munich say he is giving information «one drop at a time.» Christoforakos is seeking to go on trial in Germany, since this would make it highly unlikely he would also face a Greek court. Although the former executive has given German prosecutors the names of two ex-members of Siemens’s central board as persons in the know about the electronic giant’s shady financial practices, a source in the prosecutor’s office said Christoforakos’s intentions «lack sincerity.» According to German news magazine Der Spiegel, Christoforakos told prosecutors that one of the former Siemens directors, Peter Pribilla, knew about the company’s unlawful payments to secure a lucrative security contract for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. As Pribilla died in 2003, this has reportedly not impressed the investigating magistrate, Hildegard Baumler-Hosl. The usefulness of Christoforakos’s «revelations» about a second ex-Siemens director, Edward Krubasik, was reported to be equally doubtful.
