Court Orders Detention of Bunker Boss Spanos

Spanos denied all charges against him during a three-hour testimony on Saturday

The president of Greek bunkering firm ETEKA, who was arrested last week over his alleged involvement in a fuel-smuggling ring, on Saturday was ordered to be taken into custody and is now awaiting trial, according to local media reports.

Giorgos Spanos, who is also the owner and president of Greek football club Atromitos F.C., denied all charges against him during a three-hour testimony, where he was reported to have answered around 50 questions.

Spanos' legal team said the amount of fuel smuggled had not yet been defined, and argued that "there can't be any smuggling without smuggled goods, just like you can't have homicide without a dead person."

However magistrates were left unconvinced and ordered his detention.

The decision prompted altercations involving journalists, family members, ETEKA employees, and a number of Atromitos fans who had congregated outside the courthouse, which required the intervention of riot police.

Spanos is now awaiting trial with three of the other defendants, who local media report as being a head manager with the Ministry of Environment, a customs officer, and a marine engineer.

A fourth defendant, said to be a female co-owner of a gas station connected with the allegations, was reported to have been freed on a bail of €20,000 ($27,500).

The fuel-smuggling ring was initially estimated to have illegally supplied more than 4.5 million litres of fuel oil to Attica gas stations resulting in €3.5 million ($4.8 million) in taxes being withheld from the state.

The bunker boss' legal team were said to have indicated the initial estimates have since been revised to 8,500 liters of fuel oil and €662,800 ($912,000) in withheld taxes.