NEWS

Appeals Council to rule on former ELSTAT chief’s case for third time

Appeals Council to rule on former ELSTAT chief’s case for third time

The case of Greece’s former statistics agency chief Andreas Georgiou will go to the Council of Appeals for a third time over accusations he falsified budget data to justify Greece’s first international bailout.

The former chief of ELSTAT has already been cleared twice in judgments by the Council of Appeals Court Judges.

Appeals prosecutor Stelios Kostarelos accepted the claim by two former officials of ELSTAT that Georgiou inflated Greek budget figures in 2009 and recommended that the council re-examine the case. Given that the methodology employed to calculate the deficit adhered to European standards, his lawyer Constantinos Papadiamantis said that Kostarelos should have examined European officials as witnesses.

Indeed, the case file includes a document by Eurostat, the European Union’s official statistics service, that certifies its approval of the deficit figure for 2009.

Georgiou’s team also said that the 2009 deficit figure has been accepted given that Greek governments signed three bailout loans with international lenders.

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