Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 15-04-08

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Swiss banker held in custody after testifying before corruption prosecutors

[01] Swiss banker held in custody after testifying before corruption prosecutors

Oswald, a former officer of Dresdner and BNP Paribas banks, testified before corruption prosecutors Nikos Tsironis and Vassiliki Brati. He is also named in a third case on money laundering over a contract between Greek telecoms giant OTE and German-based Siemens, and a contract on submarines for the Hellenic Navy.

The banker was arrested in the United Arab Emirates on international warrants and has denied charges, saying he was unaware the money he was asked to deposit in Swiss and other banks on behalf of Greek clients came from illegal activities.

In his testimony before Tsironis over armaments procured from German-based Wegmann, Oswald appeared to have promised he would look for and turn over to investigators a list of his Greek clients, although he noted that a company official serving under him, Fanis Lyginos, also a defendant in the case, had more contact with them.

According to sources, he said that he was not interested in the origin of payments deposited in banks and that the Swiss banking system has "loose rules" about its clients, in order to provide services they could not find in other countries.

After completing his testimony before Tsironis, Oswald testified before Brati, the prosecutor for the Ericsson contract on radars.

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