Former Deputy Education Minister and ex-PASOK lawmaker Ioannis Anthopoulos has been freed on bail of 200,000 euros ($260,000) and prohibited from leaving Greece after being charged with taking 1.57 million euros ($2.01 million) to help a tobacco trading company gain contracts and access to financing.
Anthopoulos denied the charges and said the money that was found in his bank account was a loan to build a house. Investigators are scouring records of public officials in a corruption crackdown. Prosecutors said he abused his office for personal gain from 2002-05.
There are another 10 defendants in the case involving a company in Kavala in northern Greece. Prosecutors said the owner of the business was having trouble getting loans and turned to Anthopoulos who is said to have unlawfully intervened to help.
Officials said the company appeared to be selling raw tobacco to another company, while on the same day there were sales of manufactured tobacco to a single-member limited company, with a rate of 10% over the purchase price. The information of the investigator shows that the administrator of the single-member company is the young daughter of the owner of the tobacco business.
According to the indictment, the extra 10% rate was a fee passed on to Anthopoulos. The investigator has data concerning the opening of bank accounts by the defendant and people close to him, which show the transfer of remittances of at least 700,000 euros ($896,000) to accounts of the former politician and his wife. Prosecutors said he hasn’t shown any evidence he wanted to build a house since allegedly taking the money more than eight years ago.
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