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Cyprus sends former minister to be tried in Greece

(Xinhua)    08:17, September 13, 2013
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NICOSIA, Sept. 12 -- Cypriot authorities extradited an former interior minister to Greece on Thursday to be tried on money laundering charges related to a kickbacks scandal involving Akis Tsohatzopoulos, a former defense minister and a powerful figure in socialist PASOK party.

Eyewitnesses at Larnaca airport said police led Ntinos Michaelides into an Athens bound aircraft on which two Greek policemen were awaiting to escort him during the flight.

Michaelides had served as interior minister in two governments, the second stint in the late 1990s.

He is the first former official to be sent to another country to face charges after a constitutional amendment allowing the extradition of Cypriot citizens to other European Union countries.

He and his son, who is expected to be extradited to Greece later, are alleged to have acted as middlemen in laundering kickback money from military contracts.

Greek prosecutors allege Tsohatzopoulos, who was defense minister from 1996 to 2001, sent funds overseas by depositing them in a bank account in Switzerland in which Michaelides and his son were joint beneficiaries.

Michaelides is alleged to have transported large sums of money from Cyprus to Athens in suitcases.

Michaelides denies the charges.

Greek authorities had issued a European arrest warrant against Michaelides and his son when they did not respond to summonses to appear before an inquiry court in Athens.

Cyprus' High Court sanctioned their extradition by upholding lower court decisions ordering their extradition.

Tsohatzopoulos is still awaiting trial on graft charges but has already been sentenced to eight years in prison by an Athens court on charges of submitting false income statements and failing to disclose the source of his wealth, which included a mansion in downtown Athens.

(Editor:LiangJun、Zhang Qian)

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