The former interior minister of Cyprus, Dinos Michaelides, and his son, Michalis, were sentenced to 15 years in prison for money laundering on Wednesday. They were jailed for helping socialist former PASOK minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos siphon off millions of euros in kickbacks from arms deals, according to court documents.
The defendants facilitated payments by Syrian-born businessman Fouad Al-Zayat to Tsohatzopoulos, one of the founding members of Greece’s PASOK party, who is now serving a life sentence. His wife was sentenced to 12 years for complicity in the money laundering.
Tsohatzopoulos’ lavish lifestyle made him a “poster boy” of corruption in a country where many ordinary working citizens were bled dry by wage cuts, others suffered pension cuts and where unemployment reached one-third of the active population.
The Syrian businessman was tried in absentia and was sentenced to life in prison for bribery and 17 years on charges of money laundering.
