Criminal case against Souvlaki GR founder Sam Karagiozis collapses
Source: NEOS KOSMOS
Charges against Souvlaki GR and Auscoin founder Sam Karagiozis have been dropped after a five-year prosecution where authorities failed to provide evidence claiming he was the boss of a drug trafficking syndicate.
Karagiozis told Neos Kosmos the more he thinks about the case, the more frustrated he feels.
“I lost six of my best years fighting this. I will never get those years back, and we all suffered because of it,” he said.
Karagiozis was charged in 2019 related to allegations of trafficking cocaine and ice, but these charges were discontinued last week.
According to The Age, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) provided no detailed explanation for the decision, which came after serious problems were flagged with evidence used in the case.
The 33-year-old has been accused by the Australian Federal Police of being the boss of a syndicate responsible for importing 30 kilograms of drugs in more than 100 mail packets in 2016 and 2017 that were allegedly organised through the dark web.
He made a multimillion-dollar fortune trading cryptocurrency separate to his wealth from his Greek restaurant franchise.
He also made it possible to buy souvlaki with cryptocurrency at his shops.
Karagiozis spent six months on remand but has been on bail since 2019.
“The CDPP and AFP treated this entire ordeal as a big game. They have deep pockets and nothing to lose, while I struggled day to day, just to find the funding for my legal team.
“The DPP should not have the power to charge and detain without evidence. I feel for the countless others that have been through similar ordeals due to what I would say is substandard policing,” Karagiozis told Neos Kosmos.
He said it has been a hard time on his family who “struggled emotionally and mentally, but they supported me through the entire ordeal, and I am forever grateful to them.”
He has now commenced legal proceedings for the return of his assets that were frozen and expects this to all be resolved before Christmas.
However, given the significant financial loss to the Prosecution in pursing this case, he said he would not be surprised “if they try and re-coup whatever funds they can, at my expense.”
“We must always fight until the end. As we say in Greece ‘Eleftheria i Thanatos’, meaning ‘Freedom or Death’.”
The original article: belongs to NEOS KOSMOS .
