The case file concerning five P-3B Orion maritime surveillance aircraft and the $500 million scandal over their upgrade under the Tsipras-Kammenos administration has been submitted to Parliament.
Specifically, the case file, which includes the signing of the agreement in March 2015, implicates former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, then Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, and former ministers Yiannis Panousis, Nikos Kotzias, and Thodoris Dritsas. Evangelos Apostolakis, who was the Chief of the Hellenic Navy at the time, is also involved in the case.
The prosecutor’s investigation was ordered following a criminal complaint filed in the last ten days of August by retired Navy officer Panagiotis Stamatis with the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Georgia Adelini. The complaint concerns the unfulfilled 9-year contract between the Ministry of National Defense and Lockheed Martin for the modernization and upgrade of five P-3B aircraft, worth $499,843,145.
The criminal complaint targets “any participant and accomplice with common actions and intent, any relevant official, extrajudicial co-conspirator or moral instigator, and any other individual for whom there is sufficient evidence of guilt in the felony charges of: (a) breach of trust, (b) bribery of officials, and (c) money laundering from criminal activities.”
Since assuming his ministerial position, Mr. Kammenos had shown great enthusiasm for upgrading the outdated P-3B Orions, despite the severe economic constraints on the country due to austerity laws. He insisted emphatically within the Ministry of National Defense that the P-3B modernization program was crucial for national defense and financially advantageous compared to other solutions, such as replacing the five aircraft.
Mr. Apostolakis also supported him, establishing a close friendship with Kammenos that persisted even after he left the ministry, a departure prompted by his disagreement with Alexis Tsipras over the naming of North Macedonia and the Prespa Agreement.
Under mounting pressure, on March 15, 2015, Mr. Kammenos led the members of the Government Council on National Security and Foreign Affairs (KYSEA) to approve the intergovernmental agreement’s Letter of Acceptance (LOA) for the modernization of the five aging aircraft. In fact, within less than 20 days from the KYSEA meeting, the Ministry of National Defense swiftly activated the LOA, paying an advance of $45 million to the contractor.
Thus, Lockheed Martin was obligated to complete the upgrade by 2020, a commitment that remains unfulfilled despite the final installment being paid on September 15, 2020. The crucial KYSEA meeting was attended by Alexis Tsipras, Panos Kammenos, Evangelos Apostolakis, and Michail Kostarakos.
Mr. Stamatis’ criminal complaint was forwarded to the head of the Economic Prosecutor’s Office, Appeals Prosecutor Panagiotis Kapsimalis, who, in the coming days, will transfer the case file to Ms. Adelini without any observations, given the involvement of active members of Parliament. She, in turn, will forward the case file to Parliament via the Ministry of Justice.
