August 16, 1955
THE VOULPIOTIS AFFAIR: The deputy minister for transport, Mr Constantine Papaconstantinou, submitted his resignation yesterday to Prime Minister Field Marshal Alexandros Papagos, who, however, did not accept it. Papaconstantinou felt obliged to resign due to a plot uncovered regarding the supply of telecommunications equipment being negotiated with the German firm Siemens. The firm’s representative in Greece, Mr Ioannis Voulpiotis sent a letter on August 4 to the prime minister accusing Papaconstantinou of asking for $100,000 and 1,000 gold sovereigns to recommend the signing and ratification of the contract with Siemens. (…) The prime minister passed the letter on to Transport Minister Mr Constantine Karamanlis who immediately summoned Papaconstantinou to inform him of the content of the letter. Yesterday afternoon, at an ad hoc session of the Coordinating Council, the deputy minister related the details of his negotiations with Siemens. Since these negotiations were mainly held during meetings of the council, which was aware of the talks, all its members were informed of the details of the case. Papaconstantinou said he would sue Voulpiotis and two other men.
