Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-10-24

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Government spokesman on corruption furore

[01] Government spokesman on corruption furore

The spokesman also fielded questions concerning the sudden resignation on Monday by New Democracy MP for Piraeus Panos Mantouvalos, who quit ND's Parliamentary group but has not given up his seat in Parliament.

The move came in the wake of generalised climate of scandal and corruption in Greek politics that has dominated the headlines in recent weeks, with the two main parties broadsiding one other with cross-accusations of graft that have prompted intervention by President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias.

Roussopoulos confirmed that the MP had acted on his own initiative and had not informed anyone of his decision, stressing that the government "respected his decision". Asked if the government would have "preferred" Mantouvalos to also give up his seat in Parliament, Roussopoulos said that this was a matter "of each individual MP".

Concerning the latest incident in the scandal saga, in which a woman was accused of attempting to bribe an aide of Deputy Employment Minister Gerassimos Giakoumatos, the spokesman stressed that it was not possible for the government to react to each incident in the same way.

"We must not get to the point where we accuse the deputy minister who reports an attempt at bribery to justice. That would be a complete distortion of reality. When we have reasonable grounds for suspicion, we act and react," Roussopoulos stressed.

Commenting on Giakoumatos' allegations that the incident may have been deliberately staged in order to frame him and his aides - following the discovery that the woman in question had been carrying a tape recorder and recording her conversations with the minister's staff - the spokesman noted that "well-meaning Greek housewives do not normally go around carrying tape recorders in order to record their conversations".

He also noted that the woman in question had also been implicated in other instances, and had claimed to have recorded her interactions with staff at the state employment organisation OAED.

"This was the reason that I said on Saturday that the incident raised questions that would be answered once the case went to justice," he added.

The woman had apparently inserted an envelope containing �5,000 in a box of cakes she offered to the minister's staff, where she had gone to submit a job application for a family member.

Asked about the forced resignation of MP Evangelos Polyzos over a general statement that "corruption was found in all parties" - which journalists noted was later proved correct - Roussopoulos replied only that "accusations have to be specific, not general and vague".

With respect to the resignation of IKA deputy governor Nikos Gerassimou, Roussopoulos said that the resignation had been requested for "reasons for propriety" by the deputy minister involved, after which Gerassimou had himself contacted Employment Minister Panos Panagiotopoulos to offer his resignation. Gerassimou had been accused of having dealings with a convicted drug dealer during a report by an investigative journalism programme on television. He admitted that the man in question had been a former client of his lawyers' practice, but had denied all knowledge of the latter's illegal activities.

In the suit filed against a newspaper by finance ministry general secretary Constantinos Mihalos, meanwhile, the spokesman said that the ministry official had resorted to justice because there had been "an attack on his personality". The paper claimed that Mihalos had been criminally prosecuted while working as a stock broker in London during the early '80s, a charge which he categorically denied.

Asked to comment on the role of the media in the climate of scandal, Roussopoulos expressed reservations about so-called "revelations" that sought to create impressions or set up an sort of "tele-court", noting that such actions did not belong in ethical journalism.

"I won't refer to specific names, the citizens have eyes and ears. For example, the deputy minister that reported a bribery attempt almost found himself being accused by certain parties," he said.

Regarding a request for a meeting with Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis by celebrity television reporter Makis Triantafyllopoulos, Roussopoulos said that "the premier receives many requests for meeting that he cannot grant".

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