Former Greek Finance Minister between 1996 and 2001, National Defense Minister between 2001 and 2004, and PASOK member Giannos Papantoniou, as well as his spouse, Stavroula Kourakou, were given a four-year suspended imprisonment by a Misdemeanors Court on Tuesday after they were found guilty of submitting an inaccurate wealth statement. The two were given the choice to buy off their sentence at a rate of 10 euros per day, while the court ruled that it should be suspended if they file an appeal. Furthermore, the couple was also sentenced to an additional fine of 10,000 euros each and they were awarded by the court a second fine of 50,000 euros for moral damages to the State. The couple’s inaccurate wealth statement for the 2009 financial year was the reason the sentence was imposed, while they both face an additional trial on Thursday regarding their wealth statement for the 2008 financial year, which is also under examination by authorities. The Former Minister wife’s name was amongst those cited in the so-called “Lagarde list,” which included numerous of Greeks with bank accounts at the Geneva branch of HSBC. Kourakou had an account under her name, containing a total of 1.2 million euros. In his defense, the Former Minister claimed that he was not aware of the sum, adding that these money belonged to his wife, her ex husband and their children. The Appeals Council will rule in the coming days whether the two should be indicted for their wealth statement for the 2010 financial year as well.
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