The bank accounts of G. Panagopoulos have been frozen – Investigation for embezzlement

The Authority for the Prevention of Money Laundering has frozen the bank accounts of GCGW (General Confederation of Greek Workerspresident), Giannis Panagopoulos, requesting a criminal investigation into his involvement in a case of embezzling European and state funds designated for educational programs.

According to information, the Authority’s report points to the need for investigating two felonies: embezzlement and money laundering, involving Panagopoulos and 12 other individuals, six of whom are natural persons and six are legal entities. The freezing of their bank accounts has also been requested.

The involvement of Giannis Panagopoulos, according to the report, relates to his role as president of three centers and institutes for vocational training and education, where he allegedly embezzled national and European funds allocated for education and training programs, totaling 73 million euros for the period 2020-2025.

The report further reveals that, through financial analysis of the activities of the involved persons and companies, it was found that the unionist was allegedly awarding public works through direct assignments or tenders—without necessarily publishing them in the Diavgeia (public transparency platform)—to specific companies and intermediary companies. These companies were repeatedly used as contractors for the projects. Some of these companies reportedly lacked the necessary activity or infrastructure to carry out the assigned projects, while part of the funds was paid in cash.

Moreover, transfers of funds were made to personal accounts of individuals with no legitimate explanation, and cash withdrawals of about 1.5 million euros were detected.

PASOK suspends Giannis Panagopoulos’s party membership

In light of the developments, PASOK has decided to suspend the party membership of Giannis Panagopoulos.

In a related announcement, the Secretary of the Central Political Committee of PASOK, Andreas Spyropoulos, has requested the suspension of Panagopoulos’s party membership until the full investigation of the case by the relevant authorities is completed.

This was communicated in a letter from Spyropoulos to the Party’s Ethics and Disciplinary Committee.