Guilty verdicts recommended for former Thessaloniki officials

A prosecutor has recommended that former Thessaloniki mayor Vassilis Papageorgopoulos and Michalis Lemousias, who served as the local authority’s general secretary, should be found guilty of handling money that was illegally acquired.

Papageorgopoulos was convicted in 2013 of embezzling nearly 18 million euros in municipal funds but was later released thanks to a law allowing convicts with disabilities who have served at least a fifth of their terms to be freed.

A misdemeanors court accepted his appeal to be freed on compassionate grounds due to heart problems.