A second judge is charged
A second judge was charged yesterday with money laundering and bribery, as part of the investigation into a trial-fixing ring allegedly made up of members of the judiciary, churchmen and lawyers. Evangelos Kaloussis, the court of first instance president, faces one criminal charge – of money laundering – and four on the misdemeanor level. A Cretan nightclub owner and a Thessaloniki lawyer were also charged with bribing the judge. Efstratios Valyrakis, who runs an establishment in Hania, allegedly paid 48,000 euros into Kaloussis’s bank accounts over a six-month period, while the lawyer, Giorgos Nikolakopoulos, is believed to have contributed a further 6,000 euros. Kaloussis, who denies any wrongdoing, is also suspected of sexually exploiting young immigrant women. He was charged with attempted blackmail and sheltering illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, a lawyer representing Apostolos Vavilis, a fugitive drug dealer closely linked with top Church officials, said yesterday his client wished to turn himself in, «once the fuss around his name has subsided.»
