To 4 years' imprisonment, convertible to five euros per day, the widow of former minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, Vicky Stamatis and his cousin, Nikos Zigras, were sentenced by the Five-Member Court of Appeal for the case of an insurance policy, amounting to 500.000 Swiss francs.
[/P]The charge concerns money laundering from illegal activity attributed to them for an insurance policy of a Swiss company taken out in December 1998 by Akis Chochatzopoulos, using his passport and in the name of his cousin and Mrs. Stamatis, paying a one-off sum of 500,000 Swiss francs by bank cheque.
According to the accusation, the sum came from bribery by the late minister. Through this contract, Nikos Zigras and Ms Stamatis received an annual pension of 33,000 Swiss francs for the former and 30,000 for the latter.
In total, after the termination of the contract in question, the parties involved allegedly received a sum in excess of 770 thousand Swiss francs, an amount which was thus 'legalised' without it appearing to come from 'benefits' of the then Minister for arms programmes.
In the first instance, the two defendants were sentenced to 6 years' suspended imprisonment, suspended with a fine of 20,000 euros each and a ban on leaving the country.
Source: APE-MPA
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