The government and judicial officials apparently went into “overdrive” over the past 24 hours to ensure that two high-profile trials linked with the Siemens kickback furor in Greece aren’t shelved due to an expiration of the statute of limitations.
On his part, the relevant justice ministry was set to officially request that the two trials be tried on a fast-track priority basis, citing specific provisions in Greek law for so-called extraordinary instances. Along those lines, the appellate court’s leadership is expected to contact the foreign ministry’s translation services in order to ensure that a voluminous indictment and other relevant legal documents are translated into German, primarily, as well as in French in some instances.
The reason is that several foreign nationals, Germans and French, are defendants in one of the two trials, facing charges of bribery and money laundering, among others.
A restart of the main trial is expected -- or so court officials expect -- in five months.
The other trial involves a former minister, Tassos Mantelis, who faces bribery charges. His trial needs a new presiding judge, given that previous one died. However, no replacement was considered even when the now deceased justice had repeatedly adjourned the trial due to his serious health reasons.
