Former culture festival chief cleared of financial mismanagement

The former director of Greece's biggest annual cultural event was cleared on Tuesday of financial mismanagement charges by an appeals court in Athens.

Giorgos Loukos, who served as head of the Athens & Epidaurus Festival from 2006 until he was ousted in 2015, had been accused of over-charging the Greek state some 2.7 million euros between 2013 and 2014.

He was removed from his post in 2015 by then culture minister Aristides Baltas in the wake of a media report suggesting that public money had been squandered in the organization of the landmark festival.