NEWS

Court rules against indictment of former ELSTAT chief

Court rules against indictment of former ELSTAT chief

A council of appeals court judges Friday ruled against the indictment of the former head of Greece’s statistics agency ELSTAT, Andreas Georgiou, who has been accused of artificially inflating the size of Greece’s budget deficit in 2009.

It was the second time the council has ruled against indicting Georgiou, and two other former employees of ELSTAT, to stand trial on charges of making a false statement.

Criminal charges were first brought against Georgiou in 2013 after ELSTAT employees accused him and other ELSTAT officials of artificially inflating Greek budget figures in 2009 to force the country into an international bailout.

He denied the charges, which were dropped following an investigation. But a subsequent motion by a Supreme Court prosecutor called for him to face criminal charges after all. The council ruled against that motion again on Friday.

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