In Brief
KOKKALIS CASE
Prosecutor asks for further probes into tycoon’s several alleged crimes The chief appeals prosecutor yesterday asked for further investigations into the alleged involvement of telecommunications and software tycoon Socrates Kokkalis in a number of criminal activities. Prosecutor Petros Verrios, on the basis of a report drawn up by appeal court prosecutor Theofania Kontothanassi, asked investigating magistrate Giorgos Pournaras to resume the probe and to investigate the businessman’s foreign bank accounts. In March Pournaras proposed, who last month proposed that the case against Kokkalis be shelved. Last month, a majority of the country’s 212 appeals court judges voted against a bid by Supreme Court prosecutor Evangelos Kroustallakis to have a senior judge appointed to investigate charges of espionage, money laundering, embezzlement and fraud against Kokkalis. BAD SIGNS Inadequate numbering of buildings ‘wastes time, increases congestion’ The inadequate numbering of buildings on the capital’s central thoroughfares and the concealment of road names on refurbished corner stores across Attica are the cause of much wasted time, increased traffic congestion and subsequent pollution of the environment, the National Consumer Institute (INKA) said yesterday. Mesogeion and Syngrou avenues are the worst with only 23 and 19 percent of buildings bearing numbers, respectively, according to INKA which added that up to 87 percent of road signs were missing on some streets across Attica. N17 TRIAL Yotopoulos ‘not’ Momferatos murderer A defense witness for alleged November 17 mastermind Alexandros Yotopoulos yesterday told the ongoing trial of N17 suspects at Korydallos Prison that she witnessed the murders of publisher Nikos Momferatos and the latter’s driver in February 1985 and that Yotopoulos was not present. Despina-Danai Maroulakou, who told the court she contacted Yotopoulos’s lawyer because she wanted to «speak the truth and sleep easy,» claimed to have seen two armed assailants at the scene of the murder but said she could not describe them after 18 years. Prosecutor Christos Lambrou claimed she was trying to defend her friend. Fisherman freed Two Greek-Cypriot fishermen in detention in the Turkish-occupied town of Famagusta since their detention by Turkish-Cypriot authorities off the coast of Paralimni last Friday were released yesterday. Costas Kouris, 31, and Giorgos Constantinides, 27 – both from Paralimni – were fined 35 Cyprus pounds (about 60 euros). They were due to get their boat and nets back yesterday. Defense talks Defense Minister Yiannos Papantoniou welcomed his Cypriot counterpart Koulis Mavronikolas in Athens yesterday to discuss Turkish violations of Greek and Cypriot air space, as well as the defense capacity of the Cypriot National Guard. Questioned about American pressure to withdraw US-made Greek-owned arms on Cyprus, Mavronikolas said, «You can be sure that ways would be found to solve the problem,» adding that fully armed Turkish-occupying forces remain in northern Cyprus. Cyprus Foreign Minister George Iacovou also was in Athens. Electricity use The Public Power Corporation yesterday asked citizens to keep to a minimum their use of electricity between noon and 3 p.m. today and tomorrow to avoid possible supply problems during planned 48-hour strike action by PPC staff. Ukrainian visit A group of 26 Ukrainian children visited Archbishop Christodoulos yesterday at the Archbishopric in Athens. The children, accompanied by the mayor of the Ukrainian village of Sartana, are visiting at the invitation of the municipality of Zografou. Cypriot history A Council of Europe adviser arrived in Nicosia yesterday to discuss a Council initiative for the revision of Cypriot history books, the Athens News Agency reported. Talks will involve representatives of educational institutions of different levels and are to address a common approach toward revising history books by both sides of theisland and to remove references to antipathy between the two communities and erroneous information, the ANA said.
