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While the trial against former Minister of Defence Akis Tsochatzopoulos related to the bribes which he is accused of having received for military supplies is ongoing, the villa of one of the persons involved in the scandals is revealing the amount of black money.

The superior villa and the huge area around it have been offered for sale since last year but have not yet found a buyer. Their owner is Sotiris Emmanuel, former head of Skaramanga shipyard, who is one of the defendants in the case of the purchase of defective submarines from a German company.

Today, a report of the online edition zougla.gr presents the expensive property, which has an area of ​​600 square metres and is located in one of the most expensive neighbourhoods in Athens, which is Psychico. The property has two swimming pools, one of which is covered, six bedrooms, gold chandeliers and even stables and horses.

The Greek judicial authorities are investigating how the former managing director of the Greek shipyard had obtained the area and built the palace-like villa. The aim is to ascertain whether suspicious transactions and payments of "black" money, which might be related to the purchase of submarines for the Greek navy, are hiding behind them.

Sotiris Emmanuel was one of the close associates of former secretaries on weapons systems in the Ministry of Defence Ioannis Sbokos and Spyros Travlos. It is believed that he was one of the key figures in the signing of two contracts for the purchase of four defective submarines.

The signing of the contracts for the purchase of the submarines. Sotiris Emmanuel is signing the contracts and former Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, to the right, is applauding.

The charges against Emmanuel are to the degree of felonies and include taking bribes, abusing his rights related to his professional position to the detriment of the state as well as legalization of proceeds from criminal activities. According to the indictment, the offences took place in a very deceptive way, both only once and consistently.

According to the report by the U.S. firm Debevoise & Plimpton, where he is described as "the fat man," Emmanuel received bribes amounting to 24 million euro. The amounts are believed to have been paid to his companies Inveco and Metalco.

The construction of the villa began seven years ago, at the time when the bribery scandal with the purchase of the submarines broke out in the Greek public space. Emmanuel had purchased the property against an unknown amount a little earlier. It has a total area of ​​1.5 hectares and is located in the most expensive street in Psychico.

The villa itself, the furniture and equipment show that the money for them was not spared. In addition to the six bedrooms, the building has a huge kitchen, a living room and a covered pool, which was mentioned previously. Expensive paintings are hanging on the walls and various sculptures and statues complete the decoration.

Golden chandeliers, a very expensive desk and bedside lamps, armchairs, sofas, dining rooms, beds and small tables made by a very famous foreign company complement the villa’s furnishing.

The windows are bulletproof and the entire property is secured with an internal monitoring system. The total monthly amount of maintenance, which includes staff salaries, is 5,000 euro.

Sotiris Emmanuel attempted to sell the property against 24 million euro about a year ago. Even then, real estate experts had stated that the sale would not be an easy task because of both the price and the high maintenance costs.

Gradually, the villa’s owner, who is under investigation at present, started decreasing the amount and some time ago, he had almost agreed to sell the property against 10 - 12 million euro to the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates. At the last moment, however, the Embassy bought another property against eight million euro.

At the same time, former Minister of Defence Akis Tsochatzopoulos continues to insist on calling as witnesses the members of the State Defence Council, who had signed the contracts for the purchase of the weapons systems.

 
Sotiris Emmanuel and Akis Tsochatzopoulos

He left the courtroom and refused to attend the sessions after the court panel rejected his request. Today, however, one of the lawyers of former Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos said that he was ready to return to the courtroom.

Leonidas Kotsalis explained that next week, he would probably submit to the court an audit report on financial transactions, money transfers and other data contained in the court documents. In addition, he recalled again the claim of calling former Prime Minister Costas Simitis and other ministers of PASOK governments at the time.