Finishing three days of testimony at his trial for allegations of money-laundering and corruption, former Greek defense minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos first said that documents taken from his office and used as evidence against him were “personal” and shouldn’t have been taken – then said they were counterfeit and not his.
The former PASOK Socialist stalwart has given a rambling defense, blaming other politicians for setting him up and now claiming that the prosecution is manufacturing evidence to get him.
Other testimony came from Panayotis Stamatis, the brother of Tsochatzopoulos’ wife, Vicky, who said he knew nothing about nothing and that when he was doing renovations on a mansion his wife and brother-in-law bought under the Acropolis he never suspected it was bought with illicit money. It was confiscated by the government.
He said he had no reason to question the source of Tsochatzopoulos’ fortune, “a man that all Greece trusted,” he said. He said his sister would have protected him if she thought there was anything unlawful taking place.
Tsochatzopoulos argued that no other politician had ever faced such an organized personal attack in the country’s post-dictatorship era. He also stated that he had no illegal properties or bank accounts and that the charges brought against him were fabricated and part of an organized plan devised by political and judicial organizations operating in the country in the last few years.
The former minister claimed that former PASOK chief and ex-Prime Minister George Papandreou was responsible for his incrimination. He claimed that Papandreou had ordered a parliamentary committee conducting a preliminary investigation on the case to build a ‘despicable’ indictment which was subsequently transformed and forwarded to court by local prosecutors.
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