PASOK chief again lashes at government over Tempe disaster
Socialist PASOK leader Nikos Androulakis lashed out at the conservative government on Monday morning, ahead of a meeting with Supreme Court Prosecutor Georgia Adeilini where he is expected to call for an investigation to establish who was responsible for doctoring audio recordings that made it appear that the February 2023 Tempe railway disaster was caused by human error.
“It is unacceptable that, at a time when everyone was mourning, certain individuals took precedence in intercepting, tampering with, and manipulating conversations to sway public opinion,” Androulakis told Antenna TV.
“The attempt to manipulate public opinion was the last straw… It has exposed a ruthless system of power,” he said.
“There is a pattern in all of New Democracy’s scandals: corruption, cover-up, impunity,” Androulakis added, while accusing Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis of displaying arrogance.
“While all this is being revealed, Mr Mitsotakis is launching a personal attack on me, claiming that I am hiding behind [vested] interests,” he said.
Referring to the resignations of Minister of State Stavros Papastavrou and Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Yiannis Bratakos on the eve of last week’s no-confidence vote, the PASOK chief said, “It was our revelations that led to the resignation of the prime minister’s closest aides.”
It had earlier been revealed that the two had met with businessman and newspaper publisher Vangelis Marinakis. PASOK tabled the no-confidence vote after To Vima newspaper – which is owned by Marinakis – published a report claiming that a recording of a dialogue between the station master and the train driver, leaked to media hours after the crash, had been edited in an alleged bid to put the blame on human error rather than systemic problems in the rail network.
The government, which as was expected survived the confidence vote, has denied any involvement, instead accusing the opposition of seeking ways to exploit the tragedy, in which 57 people were killed, for political gain.
