Five people sentenced over wasting EU funds
A court in Thessaloniki imposed of four to seven years on five people who were found guilty of wasting some 460,000 euros of European Union structural funds.
Judges sentenced a former Veria deputy mayor, three municipal employees and a contractor.
The local authority staff were found guilty of releasing the funds for the construction of a road between Ano Vermio and Kato Vermio which was never built.
The municipal employees delivered reports which stated that construction was proceeding, thereby securing the release of funds even though no work took place. The workers said they were under pressure to do so because otherwise the local authority would lose out on the funding.