Ex-finance minister and wife get fresh four-year jail sentences

An Athens court on Wednesday imposed four-year jail sentences on former socialist finance minister Yiannos Papantoniou and his wife Stavroula Kourakou after finding them guilty of submitting inaccurate declaration of wealth statements (“pothen esches”) in 2010, notably by failing to include a reference to 1.3 million euros in savings in a Swiss bank account in Kourakou’s name. The pair have the option of buying off their sentences at a rate of 10 euros per day.

The ruling was one in a series of convictions for the couple relating to the same sum. In his deposition to the court earlier in the day, the former head of the Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE), Stylianos Papadakis, said the couple’s movements between 2000 and 2010 relating to the deposits in Switzerland suggest that they intentionally concealed assets from the authorities.