LONDON – A British man and Greek associate are facing serious criminal charges in a London courtroom for allegedly orchestrating multimillion-dollar illegal weapons transactions with nations under international arms restrictions.
David Greenhalgh, a 68-year-old British citizen, and Christos Farmakis, 48, from Greece, face a combined 23 criminal counts related to unauthorized arms trafficking activities spanning seven years from 2009 to 2016. Both men have entered not guilty pleas as their trial commenced this week at Southwark Crown Court, though Farmakis has chosen not to appear and proceedings are continuing without his presence.
According to prosecutor Edmund Burge, the pair had established “very close connections to senior figures” within South Sudan’s government, with Farmakis even receiving an appointment as South Sudan’s “honorary consul” to Greece and Cyprus.
The prosecution alleges the defendants facilitated the sale of a “complete air defence missile system” purchased from Ukraine for approximately $55 million during the 2009-2011 timeframe. This transaction occurred while South Sudan remained under British arms embargo restrictions, as the region had not yet gained independence from Sudan until 2011.
Court documents reveal that Greenhalgh and Farmakis allegedly discussed securing a Ugandan end-user certificate to serve as “cover” and hide the true destination of the missile equipment, according to Burge’s testimony.
The investigation into their activities began when Farmakis was apprehended in 2016 after mistakenly using his work email from the government-funded Greater London Enterprise for private arms dealing communications, Burge explained.
An email forwarding error sent arms deal correspondence to Farmakis’ supervisor, ultimately exposing documentation related to planned sales of fighter aircraft and additional weaponry to Libya following the 2011 Arab Spring uprising, the prosecutor stated.
Evidence presented suggests the defendants also attempted to arrange weapon sales to Iran, Iraq and Syria, all nations subject to international arms restrictions, based on recovered emails and documentation.
The criminal proceedings are scheduled to continue through June.
