Yorgos Apostolopoulos, the alleged middleman in the attempted bribery political scandal that broke on Friday, testified yesterday at the office of Appeals Court prosecutor Panos Panagiotopoulos, as a suspect in the case.

Mr. Apostolopoulos arrived at the prosecutor’s office accompanied by his lawyer, Mr. Pavlos Sarakis, at around 14:00 and remained there for approximately three hours.

After the conclusion of his client’s testimony, Mr. Sarakis told the press that Mr. Apostolopoulos responded immediately to the prosecutor’s request to provide explanations on Mr. Chaikalis attempted bribery allegations, without asking for an extension.

Moreover, the alleged bribery intermediary’s lawyer stated the following on the case: “There is no criminal offence nor a political issue, as Mr. Chaikalis says. Mr. Apostolopoulos testified the only unedited truth. The political blame lies with Mr. Chaikalis. The videotapes have been ediited. The recorded talks took place in order to shed light to Chaikalis’ moral status. The facts are different from what was presented. The blame for any law violations and political faux pas lies with the other side”.
According to information, Mr. Apostolopoulos told the prosecutor that Mr. Chaikalis was the one who suggested that he would be willing to vote for President of the Republic if his financial problems were resolved. Moreover, he said that the video presented by Mr. Chaikalis has been edited and that he has proof for that.

As for his motives behind the offer he made to bribe the ANEL MP, Mr. Apostolopoulos said that he only did that to show to the leader of the party just how corrupt and weak Mr. Chaikalis is.

On his part, Mr. Chaikalis insists that Yorgos Apostolopoulos offered him 700,000 euros in cash as well as a settlement for his loan and various other financial perks, totaling between 2 and 3 million euros.