Turkish court releases ex-Hellenic Postbank chief Filippidis
Angelos Filippidis, the former head of Hellenic Postbank, has been released by a Turkish court that is considering Greece’s request that he be extradited to Athens to face charges in connection to the issuing of unsecured loans.
Filippidis was arrested in Istanbul on January 10. He is accused of breach of faith, fraud and money laundering but denies the charges. He argues that he was intending to return to Greece to answer authorities’ questions when he was arrested.
Skai TV reported that the court in Istanbul deemed that the extradition request was not legal. However, a second warrant for Filippidis arrest and extradition has been issued.
A total of 25 people have been charged with fraud and money laundering in connection with the scandal miring TT, which issued half a billion euros in suspicious loans between 2007 and 2012, according to a prosecutor’s report.
The bulk of this – some 300 million euros in loans – was issued between the fall of 2008 and fall 2009, when Filippidis was at the lender’s helm, according to Bank of Greece inspectors.
