Sbokos, former Tsochatzopoulos associate, given 22-yr jail sentence for bribery, money laundering
Yiannis Sbokos, former head of the National Defence Ministry's Armaments Directorate, was sentenced to 22 years in prison on Wednesday for bribery and money laundering over a Russian antimissile contract.
Along with Sbokos the court served five-year hail sentences each to Giorgos Kamaris, founder of the off-shore company Clavis, and financier Petros Christodoulidis. Clavis company, according to the case file, was used to launder nearly 12 million euros, which the judges termed Sbokos' "reward" from the approximately 90 million euros used as bribery over the Russian antimissile system TOR M1.
Kamaris' sentence is suspended for three years and Christodoulidis can buy his out.
The court found businessman Panos Germanos and Christodoulidis' brother Giorogos Christodoulidis innocent, while it also recognized mitigating circumstances for the three it sentenced.
In his plea to avoid a life sentence, Sbokos asked the judges to recognize his prior service in high-level positions and said he had turned down the ministry position for a year before finally accepting it.
Sbokos served under then-minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, who was sentenced over the same and other cases to 19 years in jail without suspension; he was released for health reasons in July.
Source: ANA
