Ex-Thessaloniki Mayor Sentenced To Life Imprisonment For Embezzling 17.9mln Euros

A Thessaloniki criminal court on Wednesday found the city's former mayor, Vassilis Papageorgopoulos, guilty of embezzling almost 18 million Euros from municipal coffers over the course of his two terms in office, and slapped him with a sentence of life in prison. It is the longest prison sentence handed down in a political corruption case in Greece.

According to a report on Kathimerini, Papageorgopoulos and 17 other officials stood trial for allegedly embezzling almost 52 million Euros from the municipality’s coffers, though the Thessaloniki court said that there was proof of 17.962 million Euros having been misappropriated by the former mayor and his cohorts.

The Thessaloniki court also handed lesser guilty verdicts to the municipality's former general secretary, Michalis Lemousias, ex-cashier Panayiotis Saxonis and two more former directors of the municipality's financial services.

The other parties standing trial, including three former deputy mayors in charge of finances, were acquitted of all charges.

A separate report on SKAI television said that following the sentencing Papageorgopoulos was quoted by reporters as saying that:

    “I wish to repeat that I have no involvement in this case. Some people will die with a guilty conscience (over this verdict)."

He claimed his trial had turned into a “political process,” conducted “to satisfy the general mood that calls for politicians’ blood.”

Presiding judge Giorgos Apostolakis said that the former mayor was clearly involved in the embezzlement.

    “Papageorgopoulos was in charge, and without his approval Lemoussias could have done nothing,” he said. “His silent stance on the sidelines showed that he knew everything.”