Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 14-02-10

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Former TT head Filippidis before the investigating magistrate

[01] Former TT head Filippidis before the investigating magistrate

Filippidis will try to rebut the charges against him and persuade the magistrate not to order his detention on remand on suspicion of him fleeing the country.

The former TT head is accused of breach of trust and direct complicity in money laundering related to loans granted during his term to businessmen Lavrentis Lavrentiadis, Dimitris Kontominas, Kyriakos Griveas and his wife Anastasia Vatsika and Panagiotis Efsthathiou.

According to the findings of the investigation, which resulted in charges being pressed over TT loans, those loans were granted without any guarantees and have reportedly incurred an over 400 million euros loss to the bank.

Prosecutor Popi Papandreou, who conducted the investigation on TT, referred extensively to Filippiidis in the first findings she submitted regarding the first three cases of loans, claiming he had a leading role in the case: "Based on our report, Angelos Filippidis, among others, abused his position as chairman of TT and exploited the possibilities of the economic system in order to increase the wealth of third parties."

The prosecutors against corruption issued an arrest warrant against Filippidis on suspicion of fleeing the country. They also issued an arrest warrant against businessmen, with the exception of Lavrentiadis, on the first loans, while a second warrant followed on the case of loans to businessman Efstathiou.

In her findings, Papandreou said the accused was considered "suspect to leave the country due to his financial standing and his relations" but also a suspect to "obscure or delay investigations".

On his part, Filippidis said the bank followed all appropriate procedures for the loans and underlined that during the time they were granted the credibility of the businessmen was not under question.

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