Former Greek Finance and Defence Minister Yiannos Papantoniou were sent to prison temporarily, Tuesday night after prosecutors deemed he was suspect of fleeing the country. His wife, Stavroula Kourakou, was also held in custody after they completed their depositions to the judicial authorities.
The prosecutor against corruption came to an agreement with the judge who ruled that the couple should be imprisoned after the evidence showed them guilty of laundering over 2.8 million Swiss francs, during Papantoniou’s stint at the helm of the Defence Ministry.
They both have a residence permit in Switzerland, but also a leased home there, which led the judges to impose a restriction on their movement. The former Minister is accused of having laundered money during his tenure as Defence Minister linked to armament procurement, and specifically for the modernization contract of six Navy frigates.
Their arrest caused a political firestorm in Greece, as government officials blasted the successor party of PASOK, Movement of Change (KINAL) and the former Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis, who was in charge of the government during Papantoniou’s term. KINAL responded to the criticism by SYRIZA officials saying it would not take lessons on corruption from a government that was responsible for the loss of 200 billion for Greece.