Culture Ministry cash probed

Report tracing millions of euros from ‘special account’ to department staff is submitted to Parliament

Prosecutors investigating the alleged mismanagement of Culture Ministry funds yesterday forwarded to Parliament a report suggesting that ministry employees received millions of euros in bonuses between 2001 and 2007.

The report, compiled by two prosecutors probing alleged wrongdoing at the ministry in the wake of the attempted suicide of former ministry general secretary Christos Zachopoulos last December, alleges that the cash was paid into accounts belonging to associations directly linked to ministry employees. But, according to the report, these transfers were bonuses for employees or payments to cover their overtime.

Between 2004 and 2006 alone, a ministry workers’ union and a workers’ fund are alleged to have received payments totaling 49 million euros from the ministry’s so-called special account.

The prosecutors who compiled the report have asked Parliament to determine whether the various politicians who have held the post of culture minister between 2001 and 2007 should be charged with breach of duty. PASOK’s Evangelos Venizelos, minister from 2001 to 2004, will not face charges due to the statute of limitations.

Since 2004 a series of New Democracy politicians have held the Culture Ministry portfolio, including Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, current Merchant Marine Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis, current Employment Minister Fani Palli-Petralia, incumbent Michalis Liapis and his predecessor Petros Tatoulis.

Liapis did not comment yesterday.

Palli-Petralia conceded that the cash was for bonuses but said there was nothing improper about the payments, saying they were merely a way of avoiding more time-consuming remuneration procedures. “The payment of the bonuses and overtime pay of 12,000 employees, whose role in preparing for the (Athens 2004) Olympics was crucial, was made through a special account as foreseen by a bi-ministerial decision of 2001,” Palli-Petralia said.