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The service fighting financial crime is investigating by the order of the prosecutor’s office in Athens the deputy of SYRIZA and a professor of labour law, whom we know for his TV appearances, Alexis Mitropoulos. The financial officers will carry out a financial inspection in relation to a fee amounting to one million dollars, for which the labour relations expert had not issued an invoice.

Alexis Mitropoulos received the money 14 years ago. The case has become known only now, after his two former associates have turned to the justice because he had not paid them their share of the fee.

Sources claim that Alexis Mitropoulos received the amount against the legal services of his law firm. The client paid the money in a London bank in 1999. Alexis Mitropoulos transferred it to a Greek bank in the period 2005 - 2008 under the capital repatriation legislation effective at the time and paid a tax of 3% as required by the law then.

In response to the publication of the Ta Nea newspaper, which informs of the case, the deputy presented 13 documents to prove that he had legally declared the fee. But as mentioned in another article in the same edition, "none of them is an invoice for the services rendered. If it were, the amount would have been taxed at a rate of 45%."

Meanwhile, the investigators involved in the proceedings of the scandal with Laurentios Laurentiadis’ Proton Bank issued five new orders for the arrest of persons involved in dubious deals with bad loans.

Among the arrested is the famous businessman Antonis Rogopoulos who owns shares of the "George Karaiskakis" stadium of the Olympiakos football club on account of the infamous banker. 50% of the shares owned by Laurentiadis were blocked by order of the prosecutor investigating loans amounting to 701 million euro lend by Proton Bank.

The remaining four detainees are:

Vassilis Karamouzis - a former general manager of Alapis pharmaceutical company - part of Laurentiadis’ consortium.

Joanna Tori – Karamouzis’ wife who took from Proton Bank a loan amounting to 72 million euro in her capacity of the owner of a company with no activity as stated in the indictment. According to the indictment again, the company had been established for the sole purpose of securing the specific loan.

Giorge  Giorgaras and Ilias Makris who took loans as representatives of companies.

The four are expected to testify next week.

The Greek police authorities continue to search for four people in connection with the Proton Bank scandal, namely Petros Kiriakidis and his son Yiannis Kiriakidis, who are believed to have been hiding somewhere in Latin America.

According to press reports, Laurentiadis’ former close collaborator along with two other men all of whom disguised as priests had escaped with a private flight to Uruguay and Paraguay. The original flight plan indicated Jerusalem as the final destination but later, it changed its course and according to sources, it set off to Liechtenstein, where the Laurentiadis’ consortium has a private bank. Sources say that Petros Kiriakidis still had about 80 million euro in cash there. During a short stay, the plane was fuelled and then flew to its final destination.

The publisher of "It Pontica" and "6 Meres" newspapers Antonis Delatolas was summoned to testify in connection with the same case and on charges for the legalization of income from illegal activities (money laundering).

According to sources, he had received a loan to the amount of 500 thousand euro from a Cypriot bank on the orders of Petros Kiriakidis. The publisher took the loan to buy the shares of "It Pontica" newspaper and in a time when the judicial authorities were already investigating Proton Bank.