UPDATE 16:50 - Tsochatzopoulos was sentenced to eight years in jail and fined 520,000 euros on Monday, while the court also ordered that his property be seized. Also, judges also ruled that he cannot appeal his sentence.
Former Defense Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos appeared at a criminal appeals court in Athens on Monday for allegedly failing to declare his assets. According to reports, the former PASOK cadre is accused of not filling in properly his derivation of wealth (or so called pothen esches) forms between 2006 and 2009.
Tsochatzopoulos, who has been in custody on embezzlement charges for about a year now, allegedly failed to declare 47,000 Euros of assets in 2006, 33,000 in 2007 and 20,000 in 2008. At the same time he is also accused of failing to declare that his wife Viki Stamatis purchased the couple’s luxury home close to the Acropolis in 2009.
It should be noted that the trial on Monday is only the first in a series of trials against Tsochatzopoulos. The former defense minister, who denies all the charges, is soon expected to be tried for embezzlement of public funds while serving at the Greek pentagon.