Ex-minister claims Greek army using adulterated fuel
Companies that supplied the army with fuel may have evaded up to 2 billion euros in tax by selling the armed forces heating oil or marine diesel, which is three times cheaper than petrol because no duty is imposed on it, instead of regular diesel, a parliamentary committee heard on Tuesday.
Former minister Panayiotis Sourlas, who now advises New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras on transparency issues, submitted a file to Parliament?s Institutions and Transparency Committee that included the results of chemical tests on fuel samples taken from military vehicles last week. He said the tests showed that regular diesel was being adulterated with cheaper fuel before being supplied to the army.
Sourlas said authorities had conducted similar tests between 2004 and 2009 and found then that the army was receiving adulterated fuel. The former minister said that he has made the Defense Ministry and the Supreme Court prosecutor Yiannis Tentes aware of the alleged adulteration.
