ATHENS: The ex-finance minister George Papaconstantinou, acquitted of felony charges of breach of faith and doctoring a document in a case concerning Greece’s with bank accounts in Geneva, and found him guilty of a lesser misdemeanor charge stated by special court. George Papaconstantinou received a 1 year suspended prison sentence.
Greece’s ex finance minister George Papaconstantinou, had faced a possible sentence of 10 years to life imprisonment over the felony charges after being accused of removing the names of three of his relatives from a list of Greece’s with accounts at bank.
He had faced a possible sentence of 10 years to life imprisonment over the felony charges after being accused of removing the names of three of his relatives from a list of Greece’s with accounts at HSBC bank in Geneva. The former minister had vehemently denied the charges against him. In a majority ruling, the panel of 13 judges found him guilty of doctoring a document but reduced the count to a misdemeanor.
The case was heard by a special court set up to handle trials against politicians. Eight called for a guilty verdict on the document, tampering charge, with three of them calling for a felony count and the other five a misdemeanor and remaining five judges had called for an acquittal of the 13 judges.
