Money laundering
August 12, 2009
A Munich court rejected the appeal of Michael Christoforakos, who holds both Greek and German citizenship, against extradition to Greece on Wednesday. The court said the arrest warrant against Christoforakos was "convincing, plausible and presented in detail."
The head of Siemens' Greek branch from 1996 to 2007, Christoforakos will be tried in a Greek court on money laundering and bribery charges.
He was arrested in Bavaria in June on a Greek-issued European warrant.
Christoforakos, 56, is suspected of having bribed employees of the Greek telecom operator OTE, the then state-owned company with which Siemens won a contract in the 1990s. He is one of seven former Siemens executives who were targeted in an investigation by Greek prosecutors. One former OTE executive has also been charged.
All the executives deny any wrongdoing.
Siemens, an engineering giant whose products range from wind turbines to trams, has been tangled up in a far-reaching corruption scandal and has acknowledged making payments to secure business.
jam/AP/dpa
Editor: Nancy Isenson