Kampoures disavows responsibility for EFKA fraud – accountants fight back
The president of LAOS denied involvement in the fraud against EFKA, casting blame on the accountants. They reversed the arguments in their defence statements.
Conflicting defence statements at Evelpidon over the EFKA case
A lengthy investigative procedure is underway at Evelpidon into the fraud case against EFKA, with the accused including Filippos Kampoures, his wife, three accountants and a total of 11 people. According to cnn.gr, the accused have been giving statements from 09.30 on the morning of Sunday, 11 October, with the procedure remaining ongoing.
The president of LAOS remained in the investigative office for approximately three hours, his wife for just over one hour. Both denied the charges regarding shell companies and non-payment of insurance contributions, arguing that this was a simple debt and not fraud.
"I did not decide on the contributions"
Before the investigating magistrate, Kampoures is reported to have argued that the non-payment of owed contributions and taxes does not equate to committing fraud, as establishing the offence requires "specific fraudulent conduct" and "causing deception in a specific person". He added that he had never dealt with the accounting or tax management of companies, nor did he decide on the payment of insurance contributions: "The relevant matters were handled by the responsible accountants, on whose guidance I relied when processing the documents I was asked to sign".
His wife is reported to have confined her role to "actual provision of services, with secretarial and organisational support duties, staff supervision and customer service".
The accountants fight back
The three accused accountants, who gave their statements first, directed their arguments in the opposite direction, towards Kampoures. One of them is reported to have stated that the shareholding composition of the companies was not a matter covered by the accounting mandate he undertook, and that no evidence in the case file indicates his office telephone was used for business activities of the companies in the indictment.
The same individual argued that his cooperation with Kampoures was disrupted in 2023 and 2024, when the latter stopped fulfilling his monthly financial obligations—a total of 1,350 euros monthly for bookkeeping. He stated that by email he returned to Kampoures all the TAXIS codes of the companies. "How is it possible for me to be a member of a criminal organisation when I have had no communication with the alleged leaders or associates or members of it since 2024?" he is reported to have stated.
The second accused accountant is reported to have stated that his office repeatedly sought documents—account movements—to prepare tax returns, to the point of "threatening" that he would not submit them if the necessary documents were not provided to him.
Six defences pending
The procedure continues, with six more accused awaiting their turn to give statements. Among them is the so-called "tumbler", who is reported as one of the straw men in the network. According to information cited by cnn.gr, he is expected to argue that Kampoures suggested he work for companies because he was facing professional difficulties, and that he only knew that he was working normally receiving a salary, without knowledge of or involvement in administrative and tax matters.
Source: Google News GR — Crime (el)