Ex-Defense Minister Yiannos Papantoniou gives deposition
Former Defense Minister Yiannos Papantoniou submitted a written deposition on Tuesday to corruption prosecutor Eleni Raikou in connection with inaccurate source of wealth (“pothen esches”) declarations he is alleged to have submitted in 2009 and 2010.
The prosecutor was seeking more information about a 1.3-million-euro deposit in a Swiss bank account belonging to his wife, Stavroula Kourakou, which the ex-minister is accused of not declaring in his pothen esches declaration in 2008, an offense that has been considered a felony since 2009 when the law was made stricter.
Sources said that, in his deposition, Papantoniou claimed the account had been set up in 2000 by his wife and her ex-husband as a trust fund to cover the cost of her children’s studies.
He said that he had not known about the account and that in 2010, when the cash was transferred to Greece, his wife’s children took control of the money.
