Greek businessman Thomas Liakounakis, arrested at his upscale Filothei-Psychiko residence on Monday on charges of bribery and money laundering, was sent to jail pending trial following his 7-hour inquest hearing with investigative magistrate on corruption, Vassilis Bratis. A probe was launched into his activities concerning an alleged 2-million-euro bribe for an airborne early warning system that Greece had purchased in 1999 through an offshore company in his name with kickbacks funneled to members of the defense ministry’s general weapons directorate. The case involves a contract with the Swedish multinational Ericsson for which the Greek businessman is believed to have acted as a commercial agent.
Liakounakos was the chief representative of the Athens-based firm Axon, which acted as an intermediary between the Greek state and the Swedish multinational in the purchase of a military-grade airborne radar system, called Erieye, that was worth 540 million euros.
His wife, Natasha, was at the court throughout his testimony on Friday. In his statement, he denied the charges and maintained that he had never bribed a state official. The investigation, however, states that Interaction Limited – owned by Liakounakos – was the company that received large amounts of money from Ericsson for bribes that were then funneled to Rea International and Highwood before maing their way to former socialist PASOK defense minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos and Ioannis Sbokos. Sitting on the bench with Liakounakos is Peter Coleridge, of HSBC of Monaco.
