In Brief
BOURSE PROBE – Prime minister accuses ND deputy of ‘purloining’ document Prime Minister Costas Simitis yesterday accused former leader of the opposition New Democracy party Miltiades Evert of underhanded tactics in revealing the transmission of a magistrate’s report on the Athens Stock Exchange to Parliament speaker Apostolos Kaklamanis. The report concerned an investigation into share purchases by state portfolio management company DEKA that allegedly helped boost the Athens Stock Exchange ahead of the April 2000 elections, which Simitis’s Socialists narrowly won. The investigation was launched at Evert’s request and its transmission to Kaklamanis suggests that the magistrates have implicated government ministers. How did Mr. Evert obtain the text? I am waiting for Mr. Evert’s reply as to how the text was purloined and came into his hands, Simitis said. New Democracy spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos replied that Simitis was once again, showing contempt for the 1.5 million people who lost their life savings on the stock market. Jewels in the crown. Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece, currently on a visit to Yugoslavia, said in a speech on Saturday that the Orthodox Christians of Greece and Serbia were the world’s jewels. Referring to the damage done to Serbia by the previous communist regime, he said that If God is with us, no one is against us. Christodoulos is to meet today with Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica and Serbian President Zoran Djindjic. The archbishop announced yesterday that the Church of Greece was to donate 150 million drachmas to the Church of Serbia and 100 million drachmas for the construction of the church of Aghios Savvas. Reparations. Prime Minister Costas Simitis said yesterday that his government would not intervene on the issue of German war reparations while the courts were still dealing with the issue. The government is known to be against the auctioning of German state property to pay reparations to the relatives of victims of the Distomo massacre in 1944. The auction is due to be held on September 19 unless a court rules otherwise before that. The Greek government is of the opinion that all those interested should wait for the outcome of these court procedures to see what picture we have, Simitis said. He said also that Athens had not stopped pursuing the payment by Germany of a loan that Greece was forced to provide during World War II.
