Yiannos Papantoniou, a prominent political figure who was previously served as the country’s defense minister and finance minister, was taken into custody late on Tuesday on charges of money laundering. The arrest followed a marathon deposition which began on Monday morning.
Papantoniou’s wife Stavroula Kourakou was also remanded into custody.
The couple denied all of the charges against them, and more specifically, charges of receiving €2.3 million ($2.65 million) from a contract Papantoniou signed in 2003 as defense minister to upgrade six frigates belonging to the Greek Navy.
According to the charges against him, Papantoniou’s decision to sign the contract cost the Greek State €400 million ($459 million) in damages.
As stated by Greek judicial authorities, if the bribery charges against Papantoniou have not expired due to the statute of limitations, he will have to face additional charges.
Yiannos Papantoniou was a member of the Greek 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 oversaw the introduction of the euro in Greece.
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