Tension during the deposition of Akis’ wife

Vicky Stamatis, Tsohatzopoulos’ wife, entered the court building through the back door in order to testify to prosecutor Gabriel Malis.

Outside the building, some citizens shouted at her but she showed no reaction.

Dressed in black and accompanied by their lawyers, she stayed in the office of the prosecutor for about an hour, from whom she requested and received time for her plea until April 27.

Pleas for next week

All ten persons who were invited to testify about the Tsohatzopoulos bribes requested and were given time for their pleas from Wednesday, April 25 until Friday April 27, including V. Stamatis’ brother, Panagiotis, and her aunt Catherine Stamatis, in whose bank account authorities found 3 million drachmas.

From 27 to 29 of April pleas will be presented by lawyer Talita-Maria Tsekoura, Nikolaos Georgoulakis, Pantelis Zahariadis, Oratios Melas, Konstantinos Antoniades, Eftichios Atsopardis, and Tsohatzopoulos’ daughter, Areti, who came to the court building early in the morning today to avoid being photographed.

All of the above are accused of taking part in the handling of "black" money which is a product of Tsohatzopoulos’ bribes through a network of offshore companies.

Morellia owner was given plea time too

Oratios Melas, owner of the Panama-based company Morellia Trading S.A., presented himself to the trial judge on Thursday morning. He was also given plea time for this coming Wednesday, April 25.

Last July, he had voluntarily presented himself to the prosecutors who were investigating Tsohatzopoulos' affairs and revealed that his accounts were used to launder bribes received by the former minister.

Melas’s deposition was deemed critical to begin unfolding the tangle of scandals in which Tsochatzopoulos was invloved.

"I am the owner of Morellia Trading SA based in Panama, established in 1993, which I represent together with Kon. Antoniadis. One of the company activities is brokerage services. In 1999 I met Nikolaos Zigras, who presented himself as a timber merchant with connections abroad and as a representative of a group of investors from Arab countries who wanted to invest in Greece", Melas had testified, explaining that Tsochatzopoulos’ cousin had asked for "favors" to launder the bribes received on behalf of the former minister.