In Brief
Pavlos Psomiadis
Defunct insurance firm chief to answer to fraud charges Pavlos Psomiadis, president of the defunct Aspis Pronia life insurance firm, is to face an investigating magistrate tomorrow on fraud and money-laundering charges following his arrest late on Tuesday. He and his assistant Andreas Loizos face charges of providing the company’s creditors with a false 550-million-euro letter of guarantee from a British bank to keep the business afloat. The case came to light after 65 investors sued the firm. Bloody raid Pedestrian critical after shooting A 25-year-old man was in critical condition in a Corinth hospital yesterday after being shot in the stomach by a fleeing robber whom he tried to stop late on Tuesday. The robber had been leaving the premises of a courier firm with an accomplice when the 25-year-old pedestrian shouted, «Police,» in a bid to stop them. One of the robbers shot him in the stomach and the pair fled with the loot. University sit-in A small group of students belonging to a far-left group yesterday took over the main administrative office of Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University to protest a scheduled session of the university’s rectors. The students object to the government’s proposed reforms for higher education. Suspect vehicle Police in Xylokastro, near Corinth, were questioning three people yesterday after stopping a suspicious vehicle on the Corinth-Patra national road on Tuesday. At the police signal, the driver of the car accelerated, prompting a police chase. Police managed to corner the suspicious vehicle and arrest three of the five people inside. The other two evaded arrest. A search revealed the car had been stolen from Piraeus. Convicts cleared An appeals court in Hania yesterday exonerated three people who had received suspended jail sentences after being found guilty of disturbing the peace during a demonstration that turned violent outside the Marathi Naval Pier Complex in Souda Bay in April 2003. A judge yesterday ruled to clear all three convicts – two men and a woman – after deeming that there was inadequate evidence to support the charges that led to their conviction. Stranded cows Two air force helicopters were mobilized yesterday to deliver fodder to about 300 cattle that have been trapped on an islet in the Strymon River in northern Greece for the past four days after heavy rain caused the river to break its banks. As local farmers were unable to reach the cattle by land, it was decided that food had to be dropped from the air. Bad medicine Police in Kiato, west of Athens, yesterday arrested a 38-year-old man after finding a missing prescription booklet and a stamp stolen from a doctor’s office in his possession. Officers said it was likely that the suspect was going to use the stolen items to issue prescription for drugs to be used either by him or sold to others. Street party Panepistimiou Street in central Athens will be closed to traffic on Sunday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to allow an event titled «City Days» (Meres Polis) to take place with stalls and street shows.
