Former Hellenic Shipyards chief jailed on remand in submarine kickbacks-for-contracts case

Greek authorities on Friday ordered that former chairman of Hellenic Shipyards Sotiris Emmanouil be jailed on remand, after his testimony to the magistrate for corruption in the ongoing submarine kickbacks' investigation.

Emmanouil faces charges of bribery and money-laundering, linked to the sum of 17 million euros sent to his company from the German firm HDW.

According to sources, he denies the charges against him and claims the money was a legal fee from a contract signed with HDW, which then owned the shipyards in Skaramangas, for running the management for four years. Emmanouil claims the sum includes a 25 percent cut of the German submarine manufacturer's turnover, while the company into which the amounts were paid was set up at HDW's request.

He further claimed that he transferred the money to Greece from abroad when favourable regulations for the repatriation of capital were introduced by the then finance minister George Alogoskoufis, adding that the sums were checked by the finance ministry's financial crime squad SDOE and the appropriate taxation paid.