In Brief
ALEX PROBE
Prosecutor charges five minors with murder of missing schoolboy A prosecutor in the northern town of Veria yesterday charged five children with the murder of an 11-year-old Georgian boy who has been missing since February. The two Greek brothers, two Albanians and a Romanian – all aged between 11 and 13 – were charged with «jointly murdering» Alex Meshivili and with «desecrating the dead.» The criminal charges were lodged on the basis of testimonies, as no physical evidence linking the boys to Meshivili’s death has been found. The prosecutor also charged the parents of the five boys with «neglecting the supervision of minors.» EMPORIKI OFFER Crédit Agricole reveals improved bid for Greek bank is 25 euros per share France’s Crédit Agricole (CA) upped its offer to buy 100 percent of Emporiki to 25 euros per share in a proposal Finance Minister Giorgos Alogoskoufis yesterday said would be viewed positively. The previous offer from CA for Greece’s fourth-largest bank was 23.50 euros per share. A government privatization committee is scheduled to meet next week to decide on the sale of the bank, of which the state controls about 40 percent. GUNNED DOWN Pastry shop owner shot in head A gunman shot in the head and killed the 48-year-old owner of a pastry shop in Kolonos, central Athens, shortly before midnight on Wednesday, police said yesterday. Officers said that the attack is likely to be linked to a settling of scores. The victim was not named. Witnesses saw a man in his 30s entering the shop and reported hearing two shots. The suspect left the scene on a motorcycle without taking any cash from the store. Soccer funds The former president of the Greek soccer league (EPAE), Viktoras Mitropoulos, yesterday filed a law suit against the Hellenic Football Federation (EPO), claiming that it had illegally given funds to two associations in Florina, northern Greece. In the suit Mitropoulos alleges that EPO gave the two clubs 650,000 euros some three years ago when the maximum that they should have received by law was 2,500 euros. Mitropoulos further alleges that this money was then illegally given to lignite miners’ unions in the area. Fratricide? A 47-year-old man allegedly killed his brother in Aghios Dimitris, southeast Athens, yesterday when he pushed him off the rooftop of their home after an argument. Police said that the victim, aged 49, died from head injuries after falling from the single-story home. The suspect, Diamantis Sarris, told police that he was drunk when the incident took place. Holdups Armed thieves held up a branch of Alpha Bank in Thessaloniki yesterday and made away with about 2,500 euros in cash, according to police. In a separate incident in Thessaloniki, armed men held up a branch of ATEbank and took 8,000 euros. Ferry chief missing Authorities said yesterday that they could not find the president of shipping company NEL, Apostolos Ventouris, after an investigation was launcged into evidence that the company had been illegally selling tickets for a non-existent ferry route. Coast guard officials said that they had failed to find Ventouris at his home or office. Sudden death A 38-year-old man died in a car crash near Larissa, central Greece, yesterday some 15 minutes after he stabbed a colleague, police said yesterday. A second man, Theodoros Douris, 26, was also killed in the head-on collision with the car being driven by Lambi Pascho, an Albanian national. Pascho had earlier gone to the house of a 48-year-old man that he worked with. The pair were involved in an argument and Pascho attacked the unnamed man with a knife, injuring him in the arm and back, officers said. The victim did not suffer life-threatening injuries. Ticket change The Athens Urban Transport Organization (OASA) reminded commuters yesterday that tickets bought before the price increase in March will no longer be valid after Monday. Passengers who still have the old tickets will be able to pay the difference and exchange them for new ones at stations or at the OASA office on Metsovou Street in central Athens.
