The operation of the network in the case involving the “Choriatiko” bakeries appears to have extended beyond Greece, after Irish authorities alerted the Independent Authority for Combating Money Laundering to suspicious accounts held by defendants in the case.
The head of the Authority, Charalambos Vourliotis, an honorary deputy prosecutor at the Supreme Court, moved swiftly to freeze the accounts identified in Ireland.
Information suggesting that the Authority had received information, evidence and documents about the activities of the network and the defendants before the major fraud case involving the “Choriatiko” bakeries came to light is also of particular interest.
Dozens more involved – More than 400 companies under scrutiny
Dozens more people, in addition to the 59 arrested, face prosecution in the case involving a network alleged to have operated through the “Choriatiko” bakery chain, Konstantia Dimoglidou, spokesperson for the Hellenic Police, said on the ERTnews programme “Connections”.
More than 400 companies are being examined for their involvement in the case, she said, while the other defendants will be called in for further questioning.
Ms Dimoglidou stressed that the police had managed to link the front men and companies to a real person, an alleged “common denominator” behind them.
As she explained, there is a difference between rumours and talk circulating about particular people and businesses, and setting out specific offences in a case file so that those involved can be arrested and the existence of a criminal organisation established. The offences were determined the previous evening by the prosecutor in charge.
The investigation and the role of front men
The investigation began at the start of the year and was based on witness statements, lawful telephone interceptions, physical surveillance and monitoring by police officers.
Many details are set out in the case file, which covers offences not only against the Greek state. The large volume of material is expected to yield further evidence during the preliminary investigation, according to the Hellenic Police spokesperson.
Of the 59 people arrested, 20 are alleged to have been front men, posing as company owners. In several cases, Ms Dimoglidou explained, the purported owners were fictitious people whose identities were never established, while the state was seeking payment from them of tax and social security debts.
The front men are also being treated as defendants because, according to the spokesperson, they facilitated the criminal group’s activities.
The more serious charges, including that of forming a criminal organisation, apply to the alleged leaders and the group’s inner circle: the alleged leader and his close associates.
Digital evidence was also recovered during the arrests and home searches and will be sent to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations for examination. The material is expected to amount to a very large volume of data.
The alleged leader and the travel ban
Regarding the 57-year-old alleged leader, Ms Dimoglidou clarified that he had come to the attention of the Hellenic Police in 2010, although it is not known whether the criminal proceedings at the time concluded with a final judgment or whether he was acquitted.
The travel ban imposed on him, she said, has been in force for the past year and relates to other offences unrelated to the 2010 case.
The case file includes a charge of breaching the conditions imposed on him. The Hellenic Police spokesperson said the 57-year-old did not travel abroad legally through a Greek airport, leading to the assessment that he may have crossed illegally into another country. Police are seeking to establish how he ended up abroad.
So far, however, no offence by a public official has emerged.
Regarding his arrest, Ms Dimoglidou noted that it had not been established that he was in fact travelling abroad. The 57-year-old was arrested in a provincial town, not in Attica, and is expected to be asked to explain his presence there.