Angelos Filippidis, the former chairman of Hellenic Postbank (TT) who faces charges of fraud and money laundering, was held in custody at the Athens police headquarters on Wednesday following his return to Greece from Constantinople (Istanbul), where he was arrested on an international warrant last month.
Filipidis, who was detained at Athens International Airport early on Wednesday, insisted to reporters that he returned to Greece of his own free will. But the Greek Foreign Ministry and judicial sources said he was deported.
Judicial officials indicated that Turkish officials had decided to deport Filippidis despite a decision by a Turkish court on Monday this week to reject the first of two Greek requests for the former banker’s extradition, as they did not want to be held responsible if he fled the country.
If the ex-banker’s return was considered to have been voluntary, he would not be regarded as a flight risk and may have secured conditional release. Instead he is to remain
in custody pending a scheduled appearance before an investigating magistrate on Monday.
Anti-corruption prosecutors have pressed charges against 25 people, including businesspeople and former and present bank executives, in a case that centres on unsecured
corporate loans which resulted in more than €400m in losses for the bank.
The investigation, which began in July 2010, focuses on the bank’s activities from 2007 to 2012. It is understood that the bank approved excessive loans to certain businessmen without guarantees, of which “not even a euro” has been paid back.
Source: ekathimerini, enetenglish
