Probe to look into assets of suspects in DEPA-ELFE affair

Greece’s anti-money laundering authority has ordered a probe into the assets and bank accounts – both local and foreign – of all parties implicated in a scandal involving the Public Gas Corporation (DEPA) and Greek Fertilizers and Chemicals (ELFE), the latter of which is owned by disgraced businessman Lavrentis Lavrentiadis.

According to sources, the probe, which will be headed by Supreme Court deputy prosecutor Anna Zairi, will look into assets held by Lavrentiadis and government aide Manolis Petsitis, whose involvement is already the subject of a separate criminal investigation.

Judicial authorities are investigating dozens of different threads linking DEPA to ELFE, including alleged efforts by Petsitis to convince the gas company to write off millions of euros in debt run up by Lavrentiadis’s firm, as well as suspect land-swap deals.