MPs fail to agree on arms probe
Efforts to reach cross-party agreement in the parliamentary committee investigating arms deals signed by the previous PASOK government proved fruitless yesterday. MPs sitting on the 24-member panel, which looked into the purchase of US radar systems and Russian air defense missiles while Akis Tsochadzopoulos and Yiannos Papantoniou were defense ministers, will now deliver their findings along party lines. This means the committee president, Yiannis Tragakis, will receive four different reports tomorrow – one from each political party represented on the panel. New Democracy deputies are set to deliver a report of some 100 pages, in which they will call for the setting up of another special parliamentary committee to examine the dealings of the former Socialist ministers, sources told Kathimerini. The conservative MPs will charge that the Greek state suffered losses of at least 433 million dollars because of the way the contracts were handled. The committee’s findings will be submitted to Parliament and a plenary session will decide whether further action is needed.
