Greek court sentences former Cypriot minister, son to 15 years for money laundering
Xinhua, February 11, 2015 Adjust font size:
An Athens court on Wednesday sentenced former Cypriot interior minister Dinos Michaelides and his son Michalis to 15 years imprisonment for their role in a money laundering case.
The court found five defendants guilty for assisting former Greek defense minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos in money laundering of kickbacks he had received from state armaments' purchases during his term in office from 1997 to 2001.
Tsochatzopoulos was sentenced to 20 years in jail in 2013 in the case which was one of the most prominent corruption scandals to be brought before Greek justice in decades.
On Wednesday, the court also sentenced the former state legal advisor Anastassios Sophos to life imprisonment for bribery and an extra 12 years for money laundering, with his wife Maria Sophou being sentenced to 12 years.
Businessman Fouad al-Zayat was also convicted in absentia to life imprisonment for bribery with 17 extra years for money laundering.
The defendants were accused of "facilitating" Tsochatzopoulos in receiving millions of euros in kickbacks from the purchase of Russian TOR-M1 anti-missile systems through transactions made between a series of offshore companies.
Greek investigators have estimated that Tsochatzopoulos had received more than 50 million euros (56.5 million U.S. dollars) in kickbacks for the purchase of German submarines and Russian anti-aircraft missiles.
About half of this sum has been traced to various off shore companies set up by the former minister and his associates. Endit