The three-member Appellate Felony Court of Athens has ruled that 36 businessmen and stock brokers are innocent of charges of fraud and money-laundering during the Greek stock market bubble of 1999.
The boom and bust has often been described as the biggest Greek scandal, as hundreds of thousands of investors lost their savings.
The 2-1 decision is the second time that the three dozen accused have been acquitted of the charges.
They were all acquitted in the first appellate court trial, but the Supreme Court (Areios Pagos) revoked the decision and sent the case back to the appellate court to be retried. Though there were different judges on the bench, the ruling was the same.
The sole dissenting judge argued that all 36 of the accused should be convicted on both charges.
The criminal appellate court prosecutor, Athina Theodoropoulou, had recommended that the 36 be convicted and indeed argued that the initial appellate court acquittals were unsound.
Eleftheria Kollia
