The former treasurer of the Municipality of Thessaloniki Panagiotis Saxonis has made new allegations on the 10th day of the appeal trial of former mayor Vasilis Papageorgopoulos.

According to Mr. Saxonis’ latest allegations, the former general secretary Michalis Lemousias decided the amount of funds that were going to be embezzled from municipal coffers on a monthly basis, while he decided how much he would take on a daily basis.

Mr. Saxonis also referred to a municipal decision from 2003 according to which the payment of municipal employee insurance contributions were suspended for a few months, due to lack of funds, with the former treasurer alleging that Lemousias withdrew about 2 million euros from municipal funds during that period.

Mr. Lemousias’ attorneys responded that the 2003 decision applied for specific insurance funds (IKA, TADKY, etc) and during the cross examination, Mr. Saxonis contradicted himself numerous times when referring to previous court sessions.

The appeal will continue with the examination of financial inspector Anastasia Tsempera, who insists that a total of 51.4 million euros were embezzled from the municipality’s treasury, rather than the 17.9 million euros decided by the first instance court.