Panagiotis Dimitras: Criminal prosecution for breach of trust in relation to funds from European bodies

The Athens Prosecutor’s Office has brought felony charges of breach of spot against the caput of the Greek conception of the NGO Helsinki Watch, Panagiotis Dimitras.

The lawsuit concerns funds from European and different bodies which, according to archetypal findings by the Anti-Money Laundering Authority, were not allocated for the purposes for which they had been granted.

Following the prosecution against Mr. Dimitras, the lawsuit file—which reportedly besides involves a comparative of his—was forwarded to an investigating judge, who volition summon him for questioning.

Specifically, a preliminary probe had preceded this development, which began successful mid-2023 aft the Athens Prosecutor’s Office received a study from the Anti-Money Laundering Authority.

In that report, the autarkic authority, headed by erstwhile Deputy Prosecutor of the Supreme Court Charalambos Vourliotis, found, according to reports, that funds from European and different bodies had not been managed properly. The wealth was not utilized for the purposes for which it had been approved.

In fact, during the people of its investigation, the authorization had frozen the assets of Mr. Dimitras arsenic good arsenic those of the NGO helium controls.

For his part, Mr. Dimitras spoke of a “smear campaign” against him and, successful a statement, said among different things that “the alleged backing for the enactment of quality rights, supposedly diverted to different purposes, is nonexistent.” According to his statement, “the lone funded programme concerns the combat against hatred code and is posted by the backing body, the European Commission.”