Greece to settle with Siemens over bribery scandal

Greece and German electronics giant Siemens are close to finalising a 170-million-euro (227-million) deal to end a decade-old bribery scandal, a Greek daily reported on Friday. Kathimerini daily said the accord would include cash, a pledge to invest in crisis-hit Greece, a settlement of unpaid Greek bills worth 80 million euros and the provision of technology know-how. Asked to comment on the report, Siemens' subsidiary in Athens said "discussions are ongoing." The Greek government last year demanded compensation from the German giant which has admitted keeping a slush fund to obtain foreign contracts. A Greek parliamentary committee has determined that inflated contract prices cost the country lost more than two billion euros during the 1990s. Part of that money is believed to have ended up in the pockets of some senior Greek officials who helped broker the contracts. The parliamentary committee set up to investigate the Siemens scandal last year implicated 15 ministers or former ministers from the main two parties, Pasok and New Democracy, which have alternated in power for the past three decades. Two former Pasok officials -- a former party strategist and aide to ex-PM Costas Simitis and a former minister -- have admitted taking money from Siemens over a decade ago. But because of a law setting a short statute of limitations for ministers, only former socialist minister Tassos Mantelis was pursued, and he has yet to be tried over the case. Three local Siemens officials wanted by Greek justice were also able to flee the country. An arbitration is currently in process in Paris over two of Siemens' top contracts from that period, Kathimerini said. One was a project to digitalise the network of main Greek telecoms provider OTE. The other contract involved a costly security system for the Athens 2004 Olympics that failed to work properly.