One month after he was detained by Turkish police on an international arrest warrant, Angelos Filippidis arrived in Athens on Wednesday after being deported from Constantinople where he was held by authorities. He was greeted by the police, and taken into custody immediately after his arrival. He was then led to the Attica police headquarters and before a prosecutor, where he received an extension until next Monday to make his testimony. It should be reminded that he has been charged of money laundering and fraud.
He will remain in police custody until then.
Anti-corruption prosecutors issued a warrant for the former Hellenic Postbank CEO last month. Filippidis, whose lawyer claimed was in the US on business, was eventually traced to a Constantinople hotel and arrested by the Turkish police acting on an international warrant.
"I did what I had said from the beginning; that I would return to Greece," Filippidis said, claiming that the Turkish authorities had released him after all procedures were completed on Tuesday midnight.Probably the most suspicious claim by Filippidis so far concerns his statements in Turkey earlier this week. The former TT chairman, who denies all corruption charges, claimed in a Turkish court that he is being persecuted because of his associations with the former leader of the New Democracy Costas Karamanlis.
His statement, made out of desperation of course, only activated Karamanlis supporters who swarmed the Internet trashing and slamming anyone who even attempted to tie the former prime minister's name with this criminal. (And for good reason...!)
When Filippidis was informed at 9am on Wednesday that a second arrest warrant was going to be issued he decided to return to Greece because -according to some nasty reports- life was not all that peachy in Turkey where he was held in a small cell with several Nigerians.
"I told them I would leave for my country with the first flight," he continued. (Yeah right...)Anti-corruption prosecutors have pressed charges against 25 people, including businesspeople and former and present bank executives, in a case that centres on unsecured corporate loans which resulted in more than 400 million Euros in losses for the bank.
The investigation, which began in July 2010, focuses on the bank's activities from 2007 to 2012. It is understood that the bank approved excessive loans to certain businessmen without guarantees, of which "not even a euro" has been paid back.
Among those accused in the case is Dimitri Kontominas (74), the owner of Alpha Television and chairman of Demco Insurance, who is facing charges of fraud, direct complicity in malpractice and money laundering at TT Hellenic Postbank.
The bank, now known as New TT Hellenic Postbank, was absorbed in July by Eurobank, one of the country's four biggest banks.
Meanwhile, the trial of Kyriakos Griveas and Anastasia Vatsika, wanted in connection with unsecured loans approved by Hellenic Postbank, will open on February 24 in London, British judicial authorities announced on Wednesday.
The couple was arrested in London in January on a European warrant issued by Greece. They are free on bail and awaiting decisions on extradition.
The couple's attorney succeeded in reducing the number of days that Griveas and Vatsika need to report to Kingston's police station, from three to two.
"My intention is to return to Greece. The reason that I do not accelerate the procedures is that I have obligations here in Britain and two under aged children that I need to take care of," Griveas said and stressed that "When my trial opens in Greece, I will present myself at court."The couple is charged with complicity in acts of breach of faith committed by Hellenic Postbank executives and money-laundering.
Combined Reports - HellasFrappe archive, EnetEnglish, ANA-MPA
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