Ex transport minister gets four-year suspended term for driving with fake plates
An Athens court on Monday passed down a four-year suspended jail sentence to former Transport Minister Michalis Liapis who was caught earlier this month driving his car with forged license plates and no insurance.
Earlier, a prosecutor had called for Liapis to be found guilty on charges of false certification and forgery, noting that his behavior pointed to “an individual with leanings toward crime.” “This immensely rich person refused to pay such a small sum, forging his license plates,” the prosecutor said.
The former conservative minister claimed to have handed in his license plates to the authorities as financial constraints had prevented him from paying increased road tax. Returning to Athens International Airport on Friday afternoon from a trip to Malaysia, Liapis told the scrum of reporters he was confronted with that he had gone on the trip to “relax after my dramatic experience” and blamed the Greek media for hounding him after his arrest.
