27.2.13
After five months of deliberations, the Appeal court if Thessaloniki has held that former mayor Vasilis Papageorgopoulos, former municipal general secretary Michalis Lemousias and former municipal treasurer Panagiotis Saxonis and two supervisors of municipal treasury service the were found guilty. The three men were sentenced to life imprisonment, with Mr. Saxonis sentenced an additional 9 years.
The former mayor Mr. Papageorgopoulos was found guilty for abetting embezzlement, Mr. Saxonis was found guilty of embezzling, repeated forgery against the state and money laundering and Mr. Lemousias was found guilty of inciting embezzlement and assisting in forgery. The deputy mayors of finances Anastasios Gerogiannis, Michalis Zorpidis and Thodoros Athanatharos were found innocent.
The courts also estimated the total sum embezzled from the municipality to be about 21.1 million euros. Mr. Papageorgopolos and Mr. Lemousias were thought to be the two central divs in the embezzlement operation. The court president claimed that “power secrets kept them together”.
Upon announcing the verdict, Mr. Lemousias broke down and protested his innocence, claiming that “the blood of innocents is spilled for popular opinion”, while the ten low-ranking municipal employees absolved found innocent were in tears of joy.
