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A new arrest warrant for the former head of Post Bank, Angelos Filipidis, has been issued in connection with illegal loans worth 104.7 million euro. It is believed that this will delay the extradition of Filipidis to Greece, as the data contained in the recent case file must be sent translated to the Turkish authorities to enable them to decide on the delivery of the accused.

The new data, however, must be sent because if they are not taken into account by the Turkish justice, the accused cannot be sued in Greece in connection with that case.
 
A total of 15 people (some of whom were accused in the previous case too) are charged in the new case which refers to loans to real estate companies owned by Panagiotis Evtimiou.

The loans in question had been granted in the period 21 January 2009 - 08 April 2009 to companies "ASPEN Real Estate ", "ALMOND Real Estate" and "EKTASIS DEVELOPMENT" without the necessary collateral as stated by prosecutor Popi Papandreou.

In connection with the granting of these loans, Angelos Filipidis and eight members of the credit board at the bank are charged with abuse whereas businessman Panagiotis Efthimiou, three members of his family and two of his associates are charged with complicity in the abuse and with money laundering.

In conclusion, the prosecutor states that "ASPEN" had received two loans, the first amounting to 22.4 million euro and the second to 12.78 million euro, "ALMOND" had received a loan worth 18.48 million euro and "EKTASIS" 51 million euro.

The case file data make it clear that the two companies are fully owned by Cypriot companies, which in turn are owned by offshore companies based in the Virgin Islands, with a man and a woman, already accused in the case, claiming to be the beneficiaries. According to the conclusion, the actual beneficiary was Panagiotis Efthimiou along with members of his family and "EKTASIS" company.

The prosecutor states that "the reports of the members of the board did not contain a sufficient credit risk assessment" and that "the actual beneficiaries and their ability to maintain the companies were not assessed either, nor had the board taken into account the worsening situation on the real estate market, which was already apparent in early 2009." The prosecutor also points out that the loans to "ASPEN" and "ALMOND" "were granted without any credit rating" and that "EKTASIS" had been over-indebted since 2007, with significant charges on its property."

The indictment prepared against the bank employees reads, "If you were unaware of the fact that the actual beneficiary of the companies was Panagiotis Efthmiou, it means that you had lent millions of euro to an unfamiliar person hiding behind an offshore company. Conversely, if you knew or assumed that the actual beneficiary was Panagiotis Efthimiou, it means that you had lent millions of euro to a person without the required solvency, being a representative of "EKTASIS"; in addition, you had lent to him additional amounts for the other two companies. If you believed that the beneficiaries were the persons in question, it must be noted that the woman had declared 7,905 euro in her tax return for 2009 and the man 111,949 euro in his."

Prosecutor Popi Papandreou notes that shortly after receiving a loan to the amount of 51 million euro, "EKTASIS" company had turned to the court with a request to be included in the provisions of Article 99 of the law on bankruptcy.

Finally, as shown by the data in the conclusion, "These loans were not used for the purposes for which they had been requested as they were directed to offshore companies in complex ways in order to hide their tracks and their criminal origin."