Greek anti-money laundering authority freezes assets in Pizza Fan and Choriatiko fraud cases

Freeze order covers both cases

Charalambos Vourliotis, president of the Authority for Combating Money Laundering and an honorary deputy prosecutor of the Supreme Court, has ordered the freezing of all assets held by defendants implicated in two major tax fraud cases. One case centres on the pizza chain Pizza Fan and the other on the bakery chain Choriatiko. The order reaches defendants alleged to be involved in both cases, and it covers their property, bank accounts and safe deposit boxes. The reports were published on 26 October.

Payroll accounts exempted

The order expressly excludes payroll bank accounts so that employees' pay is not placed at risk. The authority is applying the same approach to the payroll accounts of workers at the Choriatiko bakery chain. The stated aim is to protect staff who, according to the reports, have no share of responsibility for the alleged fraud. The measure is meant to keep those workers' wages flowing while the proceedings continue.

Open questions

No figure for the value of the frozen assets has been published. The reports also give no count of the people covered by the order. The order is described as a measure against defendants, so the reports do not say how many suspects or companies are affected.