Yet again, the Greeks are coming down hard in a very un-American manner, on the body politik's misbehavior. Following our comments last week on the life sentence [2] for the Greek Mayor who embezzled EUR 17mm, eKatherimini reports [3], former Greek Defense Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos has been sentenced to eight years in jail for failing to declare his assets properly over the last few years. While not on the same scale as the mayor's fraud, The ex-minister failed to declare 47,000 euros of assets in 2006, 33,000 in 2007 and 20,000 in 2008. The property has been seized and Akis is not allowed an appeal but the story doesn't end there for he also faces a separate trial for embezzlement of taxpayers' money.
Via ekathermini [3],
Former Defense Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos was sentenced to eight years in jail and fined 520,000 euros on Monday.
Tsochatzopoulos appeared before a criminal appeals court in Athens charged with failing to declare his assets properly over the last few years.
He was found guilty of not filling in properly his derivation of wealth (pothen esches) forms between 2006 and 2009.
The ex-minister failed to declare 47,000 euros of assets in 2006, 33,000 in 2007 and 20,000 in 2008.
Also, he did not notify tax authorities that his wife Viki Stamati, also in custody, bought in 2009 the couple’s luxury home close to the Acropolis.
The court ordered that the property be seized. Judges also ruled that he cannot appeal his sentence.
Tsochatzopoulos faces a separate trial for the alleged embezzlement of taxpayers’ money when he was defense minister in the late 1990s and early part of the last decade.