Papageorgopoulos’s appeal to resume Tuesday
Former Thessaloniki Mayor Vassilis Papageorgopoulos’s appeal hearing against a life sentence for embezzlement, which started on Thursday, was halted due to legal technicalities and will resume next Tuesday.
Papageorgopoulos, who was found guilty last year of siphoning some 18 million euros in municipal funds, is expected to argue that the embezzlement at Thessaloniki’s municipal offices began before he assumed his post.
The former general secretary of the municipality, Michalis Lemousias, and the city treasurer, Panayiotis Saxonis, were also sentenced to life in prison after it was found they had been involved in the scam.
Lemousias is also appealing his conviction while Saxonis admitted to his involvement in illicit cash transactions but claimed to have been taking orders from his superiors.
