New Democracy MP and 18 others charged over loan guarantee
New Democracy MP Costas Kontogeorgos insisted on Friday that he has no intention of resigning after it was revealed that he and 18 former members of Evrytania’s prefectural council are to face charges of breach of duty in connection to a guarantee that the local authority provided in 2007 for a 4.7-million-euro loan taken out by a private company.
Kontogeorgos, who was the prefect of Evrytania in central Greece at the time, insisted that he had done nothing wrong and had no intention of resigning from his post in Parliament.
“I did my duty,” he told Star TV, underlining that he had asked for his parliamentary immunity to be lifted during the four-year investigation so he could respond to the charges.
The suspects are accused of wrongfully agreeing for the prefecture to act as guarantor for the company, which was set up by the local authority but in which a number of other companies, apparently shell firms, were shareholders.
The company defaulted on its loan and the Regional Authority for Central Greece, which succeeded the previous body when prefectures were merged in 2010, has to pay the loan installments.
