Greece’s former Economy and Finance Minister, Yiannos Papantoniou, and his wife Stavroula Kourakou were given an extension to prepare their testimony on charges of money laundering by a court in Athens on Thursday.
Both appeared at the investigator’s office with their solicitor, Aris Charalambakis, and were granted a postponement until October 22.
Papantoniou has denied all allegations, and instead of making statements on Thursday referred the press to a statement that he released last week.
In it, he said: “The absolute absence of any data on illegal operations has brought my persecutors to a complete impasse. For this reason, they have invented an unprecedented story, trying to link withdrawals in cash by a representative of armaments – who is now deceased – from his own accounts in Greek banks with cash deposits by a friend of mine in his own accounts in Greece, without any real connection between them – neither electronic transfers, nor personal contacts, not even communication or personal acquaintance. And, of course, I have no connection to nor am I acquainted with the said representative. Some ‘magical hand’ appears to link one’s cash with that of the other.”
Yiannos Papantoniou was a member of the Hellenic Parliament for 19 years. He served as Minister of National Defense between 2001 and 2003 and Minister of Economy and Finance from 1994 until 2001.
During his time in the Ministry of Economy and Finance, he prepared the launch of the Euro in Greece.
With information from A.M.N.A.
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