Former hospital director found guilty over 25,000-euro bribe

An Athens criminal court on Tuesday convicted the former president of the Aglaia Kyriakou Children’s Hospital to an eight-year suspended sentence and a fine of 40,300 euros for extorting a bribe.

Haris Tombouloglou was found guilty of demanding 25,000 euros from an advertising company in order to extend its contract for a campaign raising awareness about childhood obesity.

The court also sentenced a close associate of Tombouloglou in connection with the same case to a prison terms of five years and seven months.

The three presiding judges rejected a request from the defendants’ lawyers that they receive a more lenient sentence on the basis of having conducted a crime-free life before and after the particular incident.

A third defendant, a doctor, was acquitted.

Tombouloglou was arrested in 2013 by police officers after accepting the money in marked bills; the exchange was captured on video.