The appeal of former Mayor of Thessaloniki Vasilis Papageorgopoulos, who was convicted in 2013 of embezzling millions of euros from municipal funds, continued today with the examination of financial inspector Anastasia Tsempera, who performed a management audit on the municipality.
The defense attorney of the former general secretary Michalis Lemousias, Alexis Kougias, accused Tsempera of being biased against his client and the former Mayor and that she was cooperating with former treasurer Panagiotis Saxonis and his lawyer.
Mr. Kougias further claimed that Mr. Saxonis was behind the embezzlement and invested the stolen funds in nightclubs that he owned, while his client “is rotting in jail”. The lawyer reported that the refurbishment of one nightclub that Mr. Saxonis co-owned cost 4 million euros alone.
During the witness examination Mr. Kougias had several arguments and verbal confrontations with Mr. Saxonis’ attorney Efthimios Kafkopoulos, urging the presiding judge to order a one-hour break. The appeal continues.
