Four correctional officers were arrested on Thursday in relation to the escape of Vicky Stamati, wife of the jailed former minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos, from the Dromokaitio Psychiatric Hospital. The prison employees, who were responsible for guarding Stamati, will be taken before a prosecutor later on Thursday, while police continue searching for the fugitive.

In the meantime, unverified reports that Stamatis’ 8-year-old son has also gone missing have sparked confusion and speculation across the local media.

Protothema.gr contacted the child’s grandmother, Mrs. Georgia Stamati, who categorically refuted the reports: “The child is with me. I do not know how these rumours came up,” she said, expressing her concern about her daughter’s safety.

Background:

Vicky Stamati, the wife of convicted former Greek socialist defence minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos who was also jailed on corruption charges, escaped from a psychiatric hospital early on Thursday morning. Guards found her room empty with a broken window at 6.30 a.m. after she had last been seen shortly after 1 a.m. that morning.

Stamati had been jailed in April 2012 at an Athens-area central prison for money laundering, amongst other crimes associated with her ex-husband’s activities as minister during a period when the then PASOK government signed several costly weapons procurement contracts. All petitions for her release had been denied, but she was transfered to the Dromokaition psychiatric ward in a west Athens district following severe depression.