Siemens bribery trial in Athens postponed
A bribery trial in Athens against former Siemens boss Heinrich von Pierer and other ex-managers has once again been postponed indefinitely. A defence lawyer complained on Tuesday - ten years after the investigation began - that the bill of indictment had not been translated into German. The Greek Foreign Ministry denies the allegation. For the Greek media this latest development is a scandal.
No justice in the protectorate
It is a disgrace that none of those responsible for the affair is likely to be punished, blogger Pitsirikos fumes:
“They will go on eating from golden spoons, and some of them will be appointed as prime minister or minister. Greece is now officially a protectorate [of the EU], but then again it always has been a protectorate. Greece was ruthlessly exploited by companies like Siemens and their local dogsbodies. And the Greeks voted for these crooks and are still voting for them. And as far as justice is concerned, it's just a joke. Independent justice is an even bigger joke. In a dependent country there can be no independent justice. Six years ago when the country went bankrupt but none of the politicians were called to account we learned how much justice there is in Greece.”
Don't let scandal come under statute of limitations
The Ministry of Justice must do all it can to prevent the biggest economic scandal in the history of the country from falling under the statute of limitations because of constant postponements, the pro-government daily Avgi urges:
“Clearly a few major players are playing strange games here. The state should intervene. The body that supervises the judiciary must not allow the court investigation to turn into an even bigger scandal than the case under investigation. ... The German technology giant signed crooked deals and gave politicians and parties 'gifts' for facilitating them. All the costs this incurred were paid for by the state, in other words the Greek people. And Greek society as a whole was stigmatised as corrupt in the reports by the foreign press. Germany wagged the finger of austerity at the lazy and corrupt Greeks while it protected 'its' Michael Christoforakos [the former Siemens boss in Greece who escaped to Germany and wasn't extradited].”