Lavrentiadis faces string of crime charges

Financial prosecutor Grigoris Peponis on Wednesday called for five crime charges to be brought against the main shareholder of Proton Bank Lavrentis Lavrentiadis and another 27 people implicated in the case of allegedly questionable loans of some 700 million euros made by the lender to Lavrentiadis’ group of companies.

The charges include fraud, embezzlement, forming a criminal gang, money laundering and breach of faith.

Peponis also called for an investigation into whether any members of state inspection bodies should face charges and demanded that measures be taken to ensure that the suspects do not evade justice.

Earlier this month Lavrentiadis was called before magistrates investigating the Siemens bribery scandal to explain how a payment of 1 million euros from the German firm ended up in his bank account. He denied any wrongdoing, claimingto have lent the money to the firm’s Greek branch, Siemens Hellas, before having it returned to him by executives in Germany.

Ekathimerini.com