Yiannos Papantoniou

Former Defense Minister Giannos Papantoniou and his two co-defendants were unanimously acquitted by the Court of Appeals on Friday due to lack of evidence in a money laundering case linked to alleged bribery.

A judicial council has decided that former defense minister Yiannos Papantoniou cannot be prosecuted until the charges against him have been further investigated. 
After he had spent 17 months in pre-trial detention on money laundering charges in Korydallos Prison, the judicial council accepted Papantoniou's pledge to pay 150,000 euros in bail by July 1 and released him last week. 

Former PASOK defense minister Yiannos Papantoniou was released from pre-trial custody on Tuesday after spending 17 months behind bars, following a decision by a council of misdemeanor court judges to accept his request to pay the 150,000-euro bail by July 1.

A council of misdemeanor court judges on Wednesday rejected an appeal by former defense minister Yiannos Papantoniou to be released following a year in pre-trial custody.

Instead, the council extended his detention for another six months.

Papantoniou was remanded in custody in October 2018, and his wife Stavroula Kourakou in March of this year.

The wife of a former defense minister accused of corruption and money laundering was released from pretrial custody Friday on bail of 150,000 euros. She was also banned from leaving the country.

Two Greek investigative magistrates probing alleged fraud in past public procurement deals traveled to the Hague recently to meet with counterparts from Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Cyprus, where they have lodged requests for access to the bank accounts of a former minister.

Former Socialist prime minister Costas Simitis hit out against his implication in a money-laundering probe with regard to the acquisition of a C4I security system for the 2004 Athens Olympics, saying that "personal attacks can't touch me."

"It is dangerous for the public life of the country to be dragged into the mud while we are still in a crisis," he said in a statement.

A new case file investigating charges against former Socialist defense minister Yiannos Papantoniou of repeated passive bribery was sent to Parliament on Monday afternoon, as part of the probe into alleged kickbacks related to the C4I security system Greece acquired for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

Defense Minister Panos Kammenos reiterated on Wednesday his vehement denial of allegations made last month by former Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias, who claimed that Kammenos told a cabinet meeting the government was being financed by US-Hungarian billionaire George Soros.

A Greek investigative-magistrate has sought the opening of bank accounts held by former Socialist defense minister Yiannos Papantoniou in five European countries, as part of an investigation into charges of money laundering linked to alleged bribes from a state defense contract.