Lavrentiadis hospitalized en route to jail
Former Proton Bank chief Lavrentis Lavrentiadis, who was arrested last week on charges of embezzlement and fraud, was on Saturday readmitted to Evangelismos Hospital after citing health problems to authorities attempting to remand him in custody.
The 40-year-old businessman, who had been due to go to the capital’s high-security Korydallos Prison, was admitted to the capital’s Evangelismos hospital «to undergo health tests» after spending the night at Athens police headquarters, a police spokesman said on Saturday. On Friday, Lavrentiadis was refused admission to the Dafni psychiatric hospital, west of Athens, after allegedly claiming to be in mental distress.
The businessman, who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, issued a statement on Friday complaining that the decision to jail him overlooked his health problems and that the charges brought against him had been based on a “biased” report by the Bank of Greece. Earlier on Friday an investigating magistrate had deemed that the 40-year-old should be remanded in custody pending trial in connection with the alleged issuing by Proton Bank of some 700 million euros in bad loans.
Lavrentiadis was first admitted to Evangelismos on Thursday after police arrested him at his home in the suburb of Vouliagmeni.
