Folli Follie Trial – J. Koutsolioutsos: If I knew it was a ticking time bomb – 2024-04-12 15:25:02

For another day today, Wednesday (10/4), he continued his plea at the Three-member Court of Criminal Appeals of Athens George Koutsolioutsos denying the acts attributed to them that have led him to the bench for the tampered balance sheets of the company Folli Follie.

The defendant denied knowing the extent and duration of the embellishment of the company’s data in Asia, asserting that “If I had known the consequences of the embellishment, that it was a ticking time bomb, I would have reacted differently.” He also did not fail to talk about the company’s multi-targeting.

Tzortzis Koutsolioutsos referred once again to the absolute dominance of his father in the business he created. “I remember two words of my father. He told me ‘you are my son, but this shop is mine and I will do what I want’. I told them ‘don’t bother me again’. I had to see what I was going to do. I was worried. The group had grown in size in Europe. I am the only son. If the CEO of the group left the impact on the stock market would be ten times what happened with QCM. I was trapped,” he said.

“Put the Koutsolioutsi in prison”

The defendant spoke of the targeting of the company by the QCM report, the press with daily articles, the committee itself asking for documents with suffocating deadlines, the banks asking for their money immediately. “It was targeted by shareholders and small shareholders, unfortunately. We couldn’t see the next day, they were shouting ‘put the Koutsolioutsi in jail’, instead of balancing out since there were prospects. He was unfortunately also targeted by the bondholders,” as said by the defendant

Speaking about the capital and the expansion of Folli Follie in Asia, Tzortzis Koutsolioutsos claimed that “the company was doing very well in Greece, but my father’s foresight told us to open in other capitals like London and Geneva. In 1994 there was interest from a Japanese businessman who bought from the store in London. He wanted to talk to the property because there was no such thing in Japan. He wanted the exclusive use of the mark in his country. Success was immediate. We couldn’t catch up! It changed the mentality of the company a lot because we had to respond, there was a discipline that was not usual in a Greek company. Although there were executives and strategy staff, my father had the first and last word. Since 2004 when my father settled permanently, when he came to Greece he informed us about what was happening in Asia”.

However, as he said when things were revealed he felt anger and resentment. “I was shocked by Alvarez’s report, I felt an anger and an indignation that I could not imagine that such irregularities were taking place. Especially about the forged documents I felt great anger. If one looks at the report, with simple mathematics, one finds that it does not reflect reality.”

“I live with the help of friends”

Chairman: Did your father have no say in who would be there?

Accused: I don’t know how to tell you. I haven’t discussed it with my father.

Chairman: How was the process with the group’s financial statements?

Accused: I was not following the process.

Chairman: Were your co-accused aware of the beautification?

Accused: No, I’ll be absolute about it. We were a close team and I didn’t want to put the burden on them.

Chairman: Your mother;

Accused: No. There was tension with my father on different levels. There were frictions. My mother was something special, because she had to do with the image of the company. The aesthetics, the advertisements, he was in charge of the creative.

Chairman: Where did the beautified situations go?

Accused: To the Board of Directors and then to the statutory auditor.

Chairman: What is your marital status?

Accused: I have two daughters and I am divorced from my wife. He supported me when I was in prison, we have a good relationship. We have two houses in Kifissia. After this story happened, I remained the managing director until 2018 and then became an ordinary member. My earnings have dropped a lot. And then the tax office came and told me to deposit the salary in the Deposit and Loan Fund.

Chairman: And how do you live?

Accused: With the help of friends. At the moment I am in a very difficult position, because the fines that have been imposed on me are 30 million euros and the daily surcharges can reach up to 10 thousand euros. I am financially ruined for life.

Chairman: How do your parents live?

Accused: With the help of friends. After such an event you understand who your real friends are.

His testimony continues tomorrow, Thursday.