Accused referred to apologize to investigator – Supposed to promote pretend artwork at public sale – How the investigation started
The prosecutor introduced a felony prosecution in opposition to the three arrested within the case of the pretend work, of well-known painters, in Thessaloniki.
The three defendants, a 70-year-old man and his 42-year-old daughter and a 62-year-old man, are accused of: Legal group, forgery, use of a cast doc, acceptance and distribution of proceeds of crime, and possession of counterfeit monuments with the intention of passing them off as real.
After the prosecution introduced in opposition to them by the general public prosecutor, the defendants have been referred to apologize to the investigator from the place they’re anticipated to request a deadline to arrange their protection.
They meant to public sale off the pretend works
As reported by the Greek protothema.gr, the defendants meant to promote pretend artistic endeavors they introduced as genuine, a lot of which resembled the works of well-known painters, in a web based public sale scheduled for yesterday, Thursday, whereas it’s estimated that they might make a revenue of as much as and 400,000 euros.
In line with info from protothema.gr, the related catalog of the public sale was posted on-line by the organizing firm and accommodates a complete of 123 artistic endeavors. From the investigation carried out by the Division for the Safety of Cultural Heritage and Antiquities of the Directorate for Combating Trafficking and Trafficking in Folks and Items, the precise artistic endeavors have been situated within the Home of Thessaloniki and have been even indicated to the police as real by two of the defendants.
From the investigation carried out on the premises of the Home, which is situated on Svolos Avenue within the middle of Thessaloniki, all 123 works to be auctioned, which look like works of varied artists, have been recognized and confiscated, similar to: Fasianos Alekos, Gikas – Hatzikyriakos Nikos , Mytaras Dimitris, Gaitis Yiannis, Tsarouhis Yiannis, Giannis Spyropoulos, Parthenis Konstantinos, George Sikeliotis, George Syrigos, Dimitris Tiniakos, Dora Bouki, Tetsis Panagiotis, and many others.
How did the analysis start?
The investigation relating to the legal exercise of the group with the pretend work, started after info acquired every week in the past by the Authorities, relating to unlawful actions of the 2 Representatives of the Public sale Home, based mostly on Alexandrou Svolos Avenue in Thessaloniki, for offenses that fall beneath within the related laws.
In line with it, the Home in query conducts public on-line auctions, within the context of which it affords pretend artistic endeavors for public sale, making the declare that they’re real works by acknowledged artists. The Home's subsequent public on-line public sale was scheduled for right this moment Thursday, entitled “thirty ninth Greek Artwork”, the catalog of which was posted on-line by the organizing firm and contains 123 artistic endeavors.
The pinnacle of the Collections Division of the Nationwide Gallery was instantly referred to as, who, after beforehand learning the catalog of the thirty ninth public sale of the Public sale Home, concluded that every one the illustrated artistic endeavors are clearly fakes, a few of which resemble well-known works of the aforementioned artists.
Following the above, the Division for the Safety of Cultural Heritage and Antiquities of the Sub-Directorate for Combating Trafficking and Trafficking in Folks and Items fashioned a staff of cops, led by the Head of the Division for the Safety of Cultural Heritage & Antiquities, which went to Thessaloniki and carried out the mandatory verifications and identifications of individuals and premises the place the objects to be auctioned have been positioned works, which have been identified to cops as real by the 2 accused.
At midday on 04-12-2024, a search was carried out within the premises of the Home, the place all 123 works to be auctioned, which look like artistic endeavors by numerous artists, have been recognized and confiscated. Moreover, within the Exhibition premises, other than the 123 works, numerous artistic endeavors have been recognized for which their authenticity and origin are being investigated. As well as, three pretend portray workshops have been recognized, two of that are linked to the primary and one to the third arrested.
It’s famous that, from Wednesday till Thursday afternoon, the authorities are nonetheless within the particular “gallery” within the middle of Thessaloniki and gathering proof from three completely different locations, as could be seen from the movies and images printed by protothema .gr.
How the legal gang operated with the pretend artistic endeavors
With the information obtained so removed from the investigation, it’s demonstrated the legal exercise of these concerned and the main position of the primary accused, who allegedly introduced himself as a good and creditable intermediary, convincing potential patrons of the worth of the counterfeits, making the most of the popularity of the alleged originator – creator of the respective murals, in addition to the impossibility of refuting the declare in query, primarily as a result of loss of life of many of the artists.
Indicative of his motion, is the truth that the catalogs of the works to be auctioned included alleged works of well-known – acknowledged artists similar to e.g. of Parthenis Constantinos, whose works have been categorized as fashionable monuments of cultural heritage. On this approach he obtained enormous sums of cash as revenue. Particularly, it’s said that based on the indicative costs of the catalog of the deliberate thirty ninth public sale for Thursday 5-12-2024, the estimated monetary profit ranges from at the least 288,750 euros to 398,730 euros.
As well as, the investigations verify the interconnection of the Public sale Home with Public sale Homes overseas.
For this explicit case, EL.AS. has proceeded with a complete of three arrests of nationals, two males, 70 and 62 years previous, and one lady, an in depth relative of the primary defendant, 42 years previous.
