Money laundering

Drug trafficking in Greece in 2016 is estimated at 200 million euros, while the amount of taxes lost as a result of cigarette smuggling in the same year is put at 431.8 million euros, and illegal migrant trafficking is seen as having led to gains of 367 million euros for the smugglers.

A US congresswoman says Cyprus is making headway in dispelling the notion that the east Mediterranean island nation's banks have acted as a laundry service for Russian oligarchs.
Rep. Maxine Waters, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, says that US-Cyprus cooperation in tackling money laundering "is beginning to pay off."

The country's top corruption prosecutor, Eleni Touloupaki, has brought charges against 38 people in connection with the alleged disbursement of illegal loans by Piraeus Bank and the transfer of money abroad while capital controls had been in place, it emerged on Wednesday.

The Koutsolioutsos family, the main (but not majority) owners of jewelry and fashion accessories company Folli Follie, want to use the September 10 company shareholders' meeting to absolve them of any responsibility for the financial collapse of the company.

The Special Prosecutor's Office has filed an indictment against Nikolay, Evgenia and Maria Banev with the Special Criminal Court, said the press office of the Appellate Special Prosecutor's Office. They have been charged with involvement in an organized crime group, tax crimes, money laundering, and unlawful possession of a weapon.

The Independent Authority for Public Revenue is expected to focus in the coming days on three categories of professionals it suspects of widespread tax evasion: accountants, property realtors and auctioneers of high-value items.
Tax inspectors will be focusing on those professionals' tax returns for signs of money laundering. 

A Greek court has convicted 13 people in connection with alleged corruption during state hospital purchases from DePuy, a subsidiary of US healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson.
The Athens criminal court on Tuesday acquitted another seven people over the same case, in which Greek hospital doctors allegedly took bribes to prescribe DePuy orthopedic products.

The National Assembly adopted the final amendments to the Railway Transport Act. The Railway Accident Investigation Unit will be directly subordinated to the Council of Ministers, BNR reports.

The release of disgraced energy executive Aristeidis Floros under the provisions of a new criminal code introduced by the previous administration, provoked a fierce clash on Tuesday between the government and leftist SYRIZA.

The prosecutor in the trial of suspects implicated in the Siemens cash-for-contracts scandal has called for 22 out of 54 defendants to be cleared of bribery charges and to only face charges of money laundering, citing the provisions of the country's new penal code.

The prosecutor, Eleni Skeparnia, noted that the new code changes the charge of active bribery to a misdemeanor.