SYRIZA demands ND reaction to new claims of Baltakos contact with Golden Dawn
SYRIZA has called on New Democracy to respond to a newspaper report that claimed the former cabinet secretary Panayiotis Baltakos advised Golden Dawn MPs on how they should vote.
Leftist MP Stavros Kontonis said on Friday that the conservatives had been left “exposed” by the report in Efimerida ton Syntakton, which claimed that text messages from an assistant to Golden Dawn spokesman Ilias Kasidiaris showed that Baltakos was in regular contact with the neo-Nazi party.
“This also exposes Golden Dawn, which had presented itself until now as a supposed anti-systemic party,” said Kontonis. “Now it is clear that it received orders directly from the prime minister’s office.”
Baltakos was a close aide of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras but was forced to resign in April after footage of a secret meeting between him and Kasidiaris was made public.
The newspaper report alleges that Kasidiaris received several text messages from his assistant that helped relay information from Baltakos, including on how to vote on a parliamentary committee to block an amendment that would have given Greek courts the right to reopen civil cases and support another that prevented anyone who is not a member of the “Greek race” joining the armed forces.
Baltakos is also alleged to have passed on congratulations to Golden Dawn MP Panayiotis Iliopoulos after he was ejected from Parliament due to his behavior.
