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Former Cypriot interior minister jailed in Athens in arms scam case

Xinhua, February 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

A former Cypriot interior minister and his son were sentenced by an Athens court to 15 years in jail on Wednesday for assisting a former Greek defense minister and former strongman of the PASOK party to take millions of euros in kickbacks for arms deals, Cyprus' state radio reported.

Dinos Michaelides and his son Michalis were found guilty on charges of money laundering.

The court found that Michaelides and his son had received kickback money from a Syrian arms dealer named Fouad al-Zayat for the purchase of the Russian Tor-M1 anti-aircraft missile system by Greece when Akis Tsohatzopoulos was the country's defense minister from 1996 to 2001.

The Cyprus state radio report said witnesses testified that Michaelides and his son had received up to 10 million euros (about 13 million U.S. dollars).

They then facilitated the transfer of the money either through bank accounts of Michaelides' son or by physically carrying it in travel luggage when Michaelides was the interior minister of Cyprus.

The Syrian arms dealer, who had been issued a Cypriot passport and lived on the island for many years, was tried in absentia and sentenced to life imprisonment for bribery and 17 years in jail for money laundering.

Michaelides and his son were extradited to Greece to be tried in Athens, but the Syrian arms dealer had disappeared by the time the Cypriot authorities sought him for extradition. Endit