Dimitris Koutsolioutsos: “In ten years we gave over 1.5 billion to the state”

At the critical stage of the explanations the trial in Athens for its case entered. The process began with the accused founder of Folli Follie, Dimitris Koutsolioutsos who is accused of five felony acts including criminal organisation and money laundering. The defendant at the beginning of his apology said that he waited this day five years and added that his presumption of innocence became a “curelli” from a portion of the press. “This day I expected it how and how. For five years I haven’t talked to anyone, a portion of the guy has been attacking me all the time and I’m forced not to leave the house. The presumption of innocence has become a rag. I am here to learn the reality and you will judge it afterwards,” said D. Koutsolioutsos specifically. On this first day of his apology the founder of the company sitting on the stand along with his wife, son and other company executives, referred, above all, to his creation and development in Asia and specifically Hong Kong. Within a decade as his company pointed out, he had given more than 1.5 billion to the Greek state and explained that he was admitted to the stock exchange because he fulfilled the conditions. “We entered with our sword,” said D. Koutsolioutsos and explained how a company developed abroad. “We had made a giant company, the largest on the stock market and with significant prospects for the future. I feel the need today to say an apology to the executives who sat next to me and for 20 years helped consolidate the company, without having anything to do with all this,” the defendant stressed. At the same time, he referred to the way Hong Kong was chosen, saying it was New York, Asia. “We sold Greece. All the campaigns were about Greece. On all the subways, airports had Follie posters. It cost me a couple billion of them. We became known worldwide,” said the defendant for five felonies. The trial continues on March 27.