Melbourne cleaner and mother of six, Foula Pantazis was charged of attempting to pervert the court of justice while helping Tony Mokbel to flee Australia in 2006, who had been on trial for serious drug charges.
Pantazis’s husband, sister and daughter were also involved in the offending and have all received jail terms for their roles. According to prosecutor Fran Dalziel, the 60-year-old woman had been roped into the enterprise by her husband.
Foula Pantazis stood trial in June and had pleaded guilty. According to Sunday Morning Herald, her barrister Leighton Gwynn asked for a wholly suspended sentence given Pantazis’ guilty plea, the impact of jail on her mental health and her previous good character. However, the appeal was regected by court.
According to AAP, Pantazis’ involvement in the case includes asking her sister Angela Nissirios to buy mobile phones for use in arranging the fit-out of the luxury yacht in which Mokbel sailed to Greece, arranging for Ms Nissirios to travel to Sydney to buy the yacht and told her to help transport Mokbel out of Victoria to Western Australia where he boarded the vessel, providing her personal Greek bank account to be used by Mokbel’s associates to support his life on the run.
Pantazis has also arranged the lease on the apartment in Greece which become Mokbel’s home, and organised for her sister to deliver money and clothes to a Mokbel associate in Athens, while she personally delivered a suitcase to Mokbel in Greece in June 2007.
The woman was remanded into custody for sentencing at a date to be fixed.
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