Ex ministry official freed on bail after testifying over NGO funds
Alex Rondos, a former adviser to one-term socialist prime minister George Papandreou, was released on a 50,000-euro bail payment on Friday after testifying before an investigating magistrate in connection with allegations of misuse of millions of euros in public funds by a non-government organization called the International Mine Initiative (IMI).
According to sources, Rondos, who rebuffed the charges, claiming that his role as head of the Foreign Ministry’s department for international development cooperation did not oblige him to check the legitimacy of documents for approving funds to NGOs.
IMI received some 2.3 million euros for projects for the removal of landmines in Bosnia and Lebanon.
Rondos submitted an experts report indicating that the signatures on certain documents approving the release of funding to IMI are not genuine.
