Ex-CEO ‘bitter’ over being indicted for misuse of funds

The former chief executive officer of the Public Power Corporation, Arthouros Zervos, on Thursday expressed his “bitterness and disappointment” at being one of 59 people indicted to trial on charges of breach of faith in connection with the alleged misuse of millions of euros in funding by the powerful GENOP union, which represents PPC workers.

Zervos’s comments came a day after a council of appeals court judges indicted him and several other former senior officials as well as GENOP’s ex-president, Nikos Fotopoulos, to trial.

In a statement, Zervos claimed he was being targeted for enforcing the collective labor contract that applied in 2010 and which had been enforced in the same way by his predecessors, he said. He also insisted that a loan given by PPC to GENOP “did not violate any laws whatsoever.”

The former CEO dismissed as “mistaken” the decision by the council of judges, which detailed a list of suspicious expenses.