26 November 2001. Add reader 2 response.
25 November 2001. Add reader 1 response.
23 November 2001
Cryptome has received a request for information on Socrates Kokkalis, a billionaire telecommunications and gambling businessman based in Greece, and his firms:
We have serious problems with organization we call "company" and its subsidiary from Greece, guy named Socrates Kokkalis, which used to be chief of Greek Stazi operation, and in 1988 or 1989 became a "turncoat", and now works for "company".We need some information about this guy, since he is after our money. If he was after our lives, we would not worry that much, since we still have our weapons.
He owns Intracom, Intralot, Yugolot, similar activities in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Armenia, Hungary. Russians were quick ennough to get rid of him, after he made US $15M fraud in Moscow. He is on trial for serious felonies in Greece.
What we are seeking is his employer. We know it is "company", but we need something stronger then our knowledge.
For background on Kokkalis and the Stasi the source of the inquiry provided a copy of a 462-page German Bundestag report, dated May 28, 1998, on Stasi involvement in commercial and other activities, in which findings on Kokkalis, his firms and associates are described. The 26 pages on these findings:
http://cryptome.org/kokkalis-stasi.pdf (In German, 283KB)
The full 462-page Bundestag Stasi report:
http://jya.com/stasi-report.zip (In German; Zipped PDF; 3.0MB)
Cryptome would appreciate information or pointers to information on Socrates Kokkalis to supplement what is in the Bundestag report and referenced below from Google. Anonymous and/or encrypted submissions welcomed. Send to addresses and public key below.
Additional Background
Socrates Kokkalis is the sponsor of the Socrates Kokkalis Program on Southeastern and East-Central Europe at Harvard University. Google lists numerous events and scholarships sponsored by the Harvard and affiliated programs, as well as news reports on Kokkalis, his firms and press releases, and a sports team he owns.
SOCRATES KOKKALIS: Greece, $1.6 billion, Age: 60. The business: Heads publicly traded Intracom, an electronics- and telecommunications-equipment company big in Greece and the Balkans. An affiliate, Intralot, runs the lottery in Romania and Bulgaria. What's new: Signed a $100 million deal with Lexington, Mass.-based Raytheon to build components for Patriot missiles. Time off: Funds the Socrates Kokkalis Program at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government to study the transition to democracy in the Balkans.http://www.forbes.com/forbes/1999/0705/6401176a_print.html
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MIT Media Lab - Intracom cooperation (1999)
The renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Media Lab and the Greek telecoms group Intracom signed a three-year agreement for research and development of electronic trade, Internet applications and multimedia.
Intracom president and founder Socrates Kokkalis recently visited the Media Lab, where he discussed the latest developments in multimedia with the lab's director, professor Nicholas Negroponte, and his colleagues.
http://www.ana.gr/hermes/1999/feb/periscop.htm
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Intrasoft signs strategic deal with Turkey’s Gantek Technologies
Athens, 18/01/2001 (ANA)
Intrasoft, a listed member of Intracom Group, on Wednesday announced the signing of a strategic partnership deal with Turkey’s Gantek Technologies, an IT group with activities focusing on telecommunications, industry, energy, natural gas, financial services, defense, education, retail and health services. The deal, which was announced during a press conference in Istanbul, will help both companies to jointly expand activities both in their domestic markets and abroad, especially in southeast Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Socrates Kokkalis, Intracom’s chairman, speaking to reporters stressed that he has started an effort, more than four years ago, to underline the significance of Greek-Turkish business cooperation, noting Greece’s duty to support Turkey in its effort to fully acknowledge its European potential. “That was the basic motive to decide the extension of a Kokkalis Program in the JFK School of Government at the Harvard University to Turkish students,” he said. “My positions were frequently criticized as extremely bold according to some political reasoning,” Kokkalis said.
Intracom’s chairman said he would work hard to facilitate initiatives coming from both countries until a Greek-Turkish partnership “becomes as self-evident to be considered natural.” Ahmet Ongun, Gantek Technologies’ chairman, stressed the capabilities offered by the partnership between the two groups and noted that such business steps were contributing decisively to a peaceful and harmonic co-existence between the Greek and Turkish people.
A few news reports cover allegations about his skullduggery.
How Free is the Greek Press?May 7, 2000
Likewise with another media and telecom mogul, Socrates Kokkalis. For three months, the fortnightly Anti has been publishing what has been appearing as well-documented dossiers showing that Kokkalis had been an East German secret service (Stasi) operative since the 1960s and that he built his companies on such relations; plus that he had bribed the governing socialists in the 1980s to acquire telecom contracts. In another country these allegations, since they were not met by any kind of denial or even legal action by Kokkalis against that publication, would have led to a major scandal. In Greece though, where Kokkalis also has a share in many media and is reportedly allied to Lambrakis, plus he owns Greece's most popular football team, Olympiakos, hardly anyone dares looking into the matter. It is widely believed after all, that when then Prime Minister Constantine Mitsostakis opposed Kokkalis' interests in 1993, he suddenly saw deputies leaving his party and joining the new upstart Political Spring of nationalist Mr. Samaras, amidst many allegations of the role of Kokkalis in those desertions. Since then, Kokkalis was able to even break ground at Harvard where his Foundation has led to the creation of Balkan programs and chairs. While, in combination with the Lambrakis Foundation, they managed to play a key role in the Royaumont program the EU launched three years ago for the Balkans. After succeeding in getting a Greek atop that program, the two helped most of the Royaumont projects go to Greek (GO)NGOs and the program was as a result of marginal contribution to the region's development.
http://www.aimpress.org/dyn/trae/archive/data/200005/00507-001-trae-ath.htm
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Intralot-ODIE trial on misleading advertisement postponed
The trial of seven Intralot lottery and gaming contractor officials and the managing director of the ODIE Greek Racehorsing Organisation on charges of misleading advertisements was postponed Thursday for the second, for early next year.
On October 16, the trial was postponed to April 5 as Intralot president Socrates Kokkalis, his son Peter and other company officials were not present. The trial was again postponed Thursday for January 24, 2002.
The Intralot officials and ODIE managing director Ioannis Tsanas are accused of providing false information via advertisements during Intralot's public tender. According to the charges, Intralot advertisements in September and October 1999 in view of the company's listing on the Athens Stock Exchange used theme games run by state-run football pools organiser OPAP, intimating that Intralot ran the pools although the company is in fact the supplier of the equipment for the lotteries and games. Also according to the charges, Intralot is accused of the same misrepresntation involving three lotteries organised by ODIE and use of the games' logos in the advertisements in question.
Tsanas is accused of giving his permission to Intralot to use the logos without the prior approval by ODIE's board of directors.
The trial was postponed again because the accused and basic witnesses did not attend.
http://www.amb-grece.fr/presse/bulletins/avril_2001/06_04_2001.htm
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Cryptome Administrator: John Young
E-mail: jya
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PGP 6.5.8 Key:
ID: 0xC3207009 Fingerprint: 3791 CC39 66E8 EF1D CCA4 CA48 0C56 D974 C320 7009 -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: PGPfreeware 6.5.8 for non-commercial use <http://www.pgp.com> mQGiBDmpjpURBAD6LkFyCYrXyetmgvdjf2DXynnYsy1j8keHW7qbiVQ2y3SgrEp1 bz5OTnqZ/qmLDUQ45s1q3PxgP473bEqK8PeXllJ5kRzOwfdexv2VBlQLLEQGlcza Ke2vGXjWm5XGCIeVtYe2ToBh//6xkGn2tSp6U8Sj+NPYc0t8DvXyyIT7pQCg/0z1 y06zARLlS3fJn9W8gd6fJIED/1QUPbQS71kaS8zExgqzR716mMSD82yp3/qC6yOD nTbCPV/vFGeM8zUvEz+HzAEHtQ9JAYfSukamWPM0N2hrNzDb9wRaWoQ9dWZdBwep NlLW7vkwmhJsrTv+tabhCKYBM8b9XcWlM8aiwDtT8X/d5DoGTxSGTSk5tE3tMRng g/ZTA/9h/iSEXTcRug1qPsnIqcquLVFt9VVR3xTPnN1CqosLIv9oL3K4LkEvWzn/ j5TLQBxPPfPiNnYtk0JuXj/fRVbSVTvFZMawwp43+PCSVB0mtsulzmrTosqI568q Qp5/fM903AGdh2GGDV9IA22CX2BtMEAUXsc4ShwhH0dFh6fWZ7QdSm9obiBZb3Vu ZyA8anlhQHBpcGVsaW5lLmNvbT6JAE4EEBECAA4FAjmpjpUECwMCAQIZAQAKCRAM Vtl0wyBwCYBDAJ9H5kmH+Lzk/uF5C1o983nDh8Ll4gCfdtVIfGZ2nVIKPb+LzN9b A4Yh5K+5Ag0EOamOlRAIAPZCV7cIfwgXcqK61qlC8wXo+VMROU+28W65Szgg2gGn VqMU6Y9AVfPQB8bLQ6mUrfdMZIZJ+AyDvWXpF9Sh01D49Vlf3HZSTz09jdvOmeFX klnN/biudE/F/Ha8g8VHMGHOfMlm/xX5u/2RXscBqtNbno2gpXI61Brwv0YAWCvl 9Ij9WE5J280gtJ3kkQc2azNsOA1FHQ98iLMcfFstjvbzySPAQ/ClWxiNjrtVjLhd ONM0/XwXV0OjHRhs3jMhLLUq/zzhsSlAGBGNfISnCnLWhsQDGcgHKXrKlQzZlp+r 0ApQmwJG0wg9ZqRdQZ+cfL2JSyIZJrqrol7DVekyCzsAAgIH/i3wAsfX3gaaq21t eXKBv6YO85gUFa6CFzRZemwFW9n1RzAnYUCNoLSZ4pmGnWKs7t50zS9sie1fLHCA aZ6CuJNQOF8MAaxgX3DqQRnInKJyK+WSSH5YOG4N5Bq7CMvbLiMDVKOtJFxEX4Kq Dd+0nCkGce7uwoBzU+rbINEeEVZdo6Pr+J5dfm+4Ac8WQ/HeHlwUmkg0YXZPkkDD MdjrxoTvUEKECjk3Orwrymj/531hIKZDDme4LqjDbPCOon1WaKIBJEudXMESUiIW tdQNGCHEZKChfwuX7tq9SFfHlc5fzOqBfXxHvvMMgRk4IfZWI3ZPWdbSoGQ+9mFK 59AToVuJAEYEGBECAAYFAjmpjpUACgkQDFbZdMMgcAlX4QCgwjrFBkAq+Q6CvsLW I/Z8BY/ETR0AoOcddpzxnmLBjf97J4WUII7tNcZ4 =0rDn -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
From: C
To: jya@pipeline.com
Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001 12:00:55 +0100
Subject: Inquiry on Socrates Kokkalis
http://cryptome.org/kokkalis-rfi.htm on cryptome.org a document was published the 23th of November, which asks for "Inquiry on Socrates Kokkalis".
What I was just wondering about is the fact, that some formulations could be more accurate and precise, for example:
"Cryptome has received a request for information"
- Since when does Cryptome help other indivuals or organisations to get in contact with sensible information as an "information broker"??
"We have serious problems with organization we call "company""
- Who is "We"??
I could go on with more examples and resulting questions like this, but would like to please you to provide more information (Who is asking Whom for What cause for What information..) on the site.
Otherwise you could get the feeling that cryptome.org has dramatically changed it's profile as an independent source.
PS:
"Cryptome welcomes documents for publication that are prohibited by governments worldwide, in particular material on freedom of expression, privacy, cryptology, dual-use technologies, national security and intelligence -- open, secret and classified documents -- but not limited to those. Documents are removed from this site only by order served directly by a US court having jurisdiction. No court order has ever been served; any order will be published here or elsewhere if gagged by order. Bluffs will be published if comical but otherwise ignored. "
Should I have missed, that the last sentence is relevant in that case?
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From: jya@pipeline.com
To: C
Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2001
Subject: Inquiry on Socrates Kokkalis
Cryptome regularly posts inquiries such as that on Kokkalis and publishes information received, if any, including critiques of the inquiries.
The request for information on Kokkalis is legitimate in the light of the Bundestag findings and other pulic reports on Kokkalis. Any information you wish to provide will be welcomed, anonymized and published.
Thank you for your comments, which will be added to the file on Socrates Kokkalis.
From: Anonymous
To: <jya@pipeline.com>
Subject: Socrates Kokkalis request for information
Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 11:11:33 +0200
The Kokkalis request for information published on Cryptome is quite interesting. One could assume that those asking for the info are members of the mafia themselves: "We need some information about this guy, since he is after our money. If he was after our lives, we would not worry that much, since we still have our weapons." (!)
I wouldn't like to help people with guns, but I can still urge them - and Cryptome - to have a look at some Greek newspapers that have looked into the matter, especially Kathimerini:
http://www.kathimerini.gr/week/news.asp - Greek edition,http://www.ekathimerini.com/news/news.asp - English edition.
There's a searchable archive in Greek and English.