Unanimous guilty verdict for former Greek Minister

Greece's former Defence Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos, has been found guilty during a criminal appeals trial in Athens on Monday, relating to kickbacks and bribing allegations.

Presiding judge Anthi Gamari handed down the unanimous guilty verdict accusing the former minister of arranging illegal kickbacks for the purchase of the TOR-M1 missile system and Hellenic Navy submarines by the Greek armed forces.

The verdict represents the culmination of a three-year criminal appeals trial that found all 16 defendants guilty, upholding a money-laundering verdict reached by a lower court. One of the original defendants in the trial has since passed away.

The only differentiation between Monday's verdict and the original verdict is in the amount of cash considered to have been given to the former Minister via his associate Yiannis Sbokos. This has been adjusted downward from 40 million euros - the amount accepted by the lower court - to 10 million euros.

In addition to Tsohatzopoulos, the other defendants found guilty were: Asterios Economidis, Froso Lambropoulou, Nikos Zigras, Giorgos Sachpatzidis, Areti Tsohatzopoulou, Viki Stamati, Yiannis Sbokos, Nikos Georgoulakis, Panagiotis Stamatis, Oratios Melas, Konstantinos Antoniadis, Gudrun Moldenhauer, Nikos Karatzas and Giorgos Konstantatos.