Defense minister to tell Parliament about talk with convict
Defense Minister Panos Kammenos is scheduled to address Parliament on Monday on the controversy surrounding reports that he held a telephone conversation with a convict serving a life sentence over the 2014 Noor 1 heroin-smuggling case.
Kammenos will be responding to a series of questions presented to the House by opposition New Democracy vice president Adonis Georgiadis concerning leaked audio suggesting that the minister promised former shipowner Makis Yiannousakis political support if he testified in the trial against a specific businessman.
Kammenos has denied the rumors, saying that Yiannousakis was the one who approached him, seeking judicial protection. The former shipowner was sentenced to life for his role in smuggling more than 2 tons of heroin into Greece aboard the Noor 1 cargo ship in 2014.