Ex-finance minister faces new charges

A corruption prosecutor on Thursday lodged charges of making a false statement against former socialist finance minister Yiannos Papantoniou and his wife Stavroula Kourakou, and also charged two officials at a tax office in Kifissia, northern Athens, for issuing them with a declaration allowing them to sell a property on the island of Syros without settling their existing tax debts.

The development came just a day after an Athens court imposed four-year jail sentences on the couple 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.