In Brief
Tsochatzopoulos probe
Laundering probe ties offshore firm to ex-minister’s cousin The head of Parliament’s anti-money-laundering committee, Stelios Grozos, said yesterday that a Cyprus-based offshore company, from which former minister and PASOK MP Akis Tsochatzopoulos is alleged to have bought expensive property just a few days before a change in tax laws, had been set up by the ex-minister’s cousin, Nikolaos Zigras. Cypriot authorities reportedly denied Grozos access to the financial transactions of Torcaso Investments, claiming that the firm has no involvement in a land-swap scandal involving the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos. Last month Tsochatzopoulos denied owning any offshore companies or a string of luxury properties in Athens. Child pornography Prefecture worker, 40, arrested An employee of the Prefecture of Arta in central Greece was arrested yesterday on charges of possessing pornographic material featuring children. The 40-year-old man was traced to his office by members of the police’s electronic crimes squad, who discovered more than 3,000 files on his computer depicting children being sexually abused as well as night vision goggles, a thermal camera and a large knife. Migrant boat Coast guards on Santorini were yesterday dispatched to investigate an uncaptained sailing boat spotted off the coast of the Aegean island with 20 illegal immigrants aboard. After being towed to safety, the passengers – 16 men, two women and two children – told officers that they had sailed from Turkey with plans to reach Italy. Further questioning revealed that the traffickers, two men aged 41 and 35, were among the group. Bank heist Two men armed with guns held up a branch of ATEbank in Fthiotida, central Greece, yesterday morning and made off with 24,000 euros in a car that had been stolen the previous day. The perpetrators managed to elude a police patrol that spotted them and chased them for several kilometers. Murder solved The 50-year-old son of a woman who was found strangled in the village of Aghia Efthymia on the Ionian island of Cephalonia last November was detained on murder charges yesterday. Police said that the son had paid an employee – a 29-year-old man from Bangladesh who worked at his rooms-to-let business – to kill his 76-year-old mother and make it appear like a robbery. According to police, the son had wanted to take control of his mother’s assets. Beating suspect Police in Areopoli, in the Peloponnese, said yesterday that they had located one of the perpetrators behind a violent attack on a group of four Afghan nationals in the nearby village of Sotiras last Thursday. The suspect is a 29-year-old local resident, according to officers who said they were seeking another nine people in connection with the attack. The four migrants suffered minor injuries after a group of intruders broke into their apartment and started beating them with sticks. Bad food Piraeus Prefecture health inspectors yesterday seized nearly 13 tons of expired frozen fish, seafood and meat during raids conducted at businesses in Drapetsona and Rendi.
