Sorras hit with array of charges

Official issues list of offenses fugitive ‘trillionaire’ is believed to have committed

The Athens prosecutor’s office yesterday published a long list of charges against self-proclaimed trillionaire Artemis Sorras and seven close associates that includes almost every crime in the Greek penal code save murder.

Sorras and seven of his associates in his ultranationalist Convention of Greeks movement are accused of racketeering, multiple fraud against individuals, the state, banks and social security funds, encouraging others to commit crime, perjury and money laundering, among other crimes.

In January, Justice Minister Stavros Kontonis called for the merging of separate investigations into the man who claims to have enough money to pay off Greece’s public debt and that of every Greek citizen. The initiative brought to light what appears to be a major scam whereby thousands of citizens were encouraged to pay for membership in Convention of Greeks in exchange for false assurances that their debts would be paid off from an imaginary fund.

According to a judicial investigation, some 12,000 Greeks have sent letters to banks, tax offices and social security providers to which they owe money “authorizing” them to claim their debts from the bogus fund. The IKA fund alone is owed 4.7 million euros by 115 citizens who submitted such “authorizations,” the probe found.

Sorras remains at large since a Patra court slapped him with an eight-year term for embezzlement earlier this month.