Former Thessaloniki mayor Papageorgopoulos found guilty of embezzlement

 

"They set up an embezzlement machine. Money arrived in his hands but he did not want to know its origins," the court president said, declaring Papageorgopoulos’ guilt due to direct complicity in embezzlement by omission.

 

The amount of embezzlement was determined by the court at about 18 million euros. Papageorgopoulos’ closest collaborator was found guilty of abetting embezzlement. The sentence that will be imposed on the former mayor of Thessaloniki is yet to be determined.

 

The court found P. Saxonis guilty of embezzling the sum of 17,962,000 euros from funds of the Thessaloniki municipality. He is also charged with forgery and legalization of profits from money laundering. The court also identified the culpability of both former directors of the treasury service Thomas Golas and Yorgos Gaitatzis, charging them with facilitating Saxonis’ embezzlement.

 

Former general secretary of the Thessaloniki municipality and Papageorgopoulos’ right hand, M. Lemousias, was also found guilty. As the court said, "everything was done with his knowledge and consent." The ruling judge added that they embezzled money under the pretext of financially supporting Papageorgopoulos’ party, "Anagennisi".

 

The deputy mayors were found not guilty according to the court, and so were the other officials who appeared to have been involved in the case since as it was mentioned, they could not have prevented the embezzlement from their position.