Deputy minister resigns after rant against prosecutor
Greek officers questioned more than 5,000 migrants last summer after requests from Britain but did not abduct any of them, Public Order Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis said yesterday, hours after his deputy Christos Markoyiannakis resigned after criticizing the prosecutor investigating claims that Pakistani immigrants were interrogated last July. Markoyiannakis tendered his resignation shortly after midnight after a recording of him calling Supreme Court prosecutor Dimitris Linos a «fool» and «illiterate» was played on television. The former deputy minister had earlier denied making such a statement. Linos is responsible for overseeing the investigation into claims that 28 Pakistanis were abducted by Greek and British agents in the wake of the terrorist attacks in London last July. Markoyiannakis said he was resigning because he did not want to «put the government in a difficult position.» The outgoing minister made the remarks during an ND party function in Crete and said he was disappointed that what he said in private had been «secretly recorded» and taken out of context. Linos said that Markoyiannakis’s resignation was «the appropriate political solution.» Yesterday’s developments were a blow to the ruling conservatives, who have already seen the resignation of one minister, Savvas Tsitouridis, a deputy minister, Adam Regouzas, and numerous government appointees in the public sector since ND came to power in March 2004. The position vacated by Markoyiannakis will not be filled as it will eventually be scrapped. Meanwhile, a parliamentary committee heard from Public Order Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis on the allegations made by the Pakistanis. Voulgarakis again denied that Greek officers took part in the alleged abductions but admitted that they questioned migrants after a request from MI6, the British intelligence service, to check the origins of some phone calls from Greece to Britain. Voulgarakis said that 5,432 foreigners were checked last July and August, 2,172 were detained, 1,221 were arrested in connection to other offenses and six were expelled. The 28 Pakistanis in question were not among them, the minister added. «There was no reason for us to use James Bond-style methods because we achieved what we wanted legally, quietly and effectively,» the minister said. Nothing came of the inquiries prompted by MI6’s request. Voulgarakis said that Pakistani migrants living in Aspropyrgos, west of Athens, were also checked at the end of December after a request from the US Embassy due to a threat against it. The minister said that US officials had given sworn evidence which was followed up through legal channels by Greek authorities.
