ND rebuffs bribery claims, says alleged mediator was adviser to Kammenos
Responding to claims by Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos that a mediator tried to bribe one of his MPs, Pavlos Haikalis, to vote for the coalition’s candidate for president, New Democracy party secretary Andreas Papamimikos described the allegations as «a set up» and «a provocation,» adding that the alleged mediator in the affair was an adviser to the Independent Greeks leader.
Papamimikos did not name the alleged mediator but said that he had testified with Kammenos in a trial last year related to the purchase of credit default swaps (CDS) and had traveled with a delegation of leftist SYRIZA officials to Cyprus, also last year.
The ND cadre was apparently referring to Giorgos Apostolopoulos who was a key witness against Andrikos Papandreou, the brother of former Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou, who last year sued Kammenos after the latter accused him of involvement with a firm that profited from the purchase of CDS insuring against a Greek bankruptcy.
In June last year, a Greek court ordered Kammenos to pay Papandreou 30,000 euros in damages and another 500 euros every time he slanders him in the future.