Lavrentiadis transferred to psychiatric hospital
Former Proton Bank chief Lavrentis Lavrentiadis, who was arrested on Thursday on charges of embezzlement and fraud, was on Friday transferred to the Dafni psychiatric hospital, west of Athens, after testifying for four hours before an investigating magistrate from a hospital bed yesterday following his admission to the Evangelismos facility in Athens.
Lavrentiadis was admitted to the Evangelismos late on Thursday after citing health problems when police tried to arrest him. Lavrentiadis, who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, issued a statement complaining that the decision to jail him overlooked his health problems and were based on a “biased” report by the Bank of Greece.
“The justice system is responsible for anything that might happen to me now,” he said.
Meanwhile police sources indicated that 16 members of the businessman’s private security detail had been arrested late on Thursday including two policemen and two coast guard frogmen.
Earlier yesterday, a prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for publisher Petros Kyriakides, in connection with the alleged issuing by Proton Bank of some 700 million euros in bad loans.
Police said three high-ranking Proton executives had also been arrested in connection with the same case.
