In Brief
TRIAL FIXING
Prosecutor recommends that 11 be charged for court corruption Prosecutor Kyriakos Karoutsos has recommended to a council of appeals court judges that two former justices, five lawyers and four other people face charges in connection with an alleged trial-fixing ring, court sources said yesterday. Karoutsos proposed that ex-judge Evangelos Kalousis and his former colleague Constantina Bourboulia should face charges including bribery and money laundering. The prosecutor also said that five lawyers, including Sakis Kehayioglou, should stand trial. POLICING COSTS ELAS chief says income from sports events does not cover force’s expenses The chief of the Greek Police (ELAS), Anastassios Dimoschakis, said that the funding allocated to his force for policing sports events does not come close to covering the cost of maintaining a presence at those contests. Dimoschakis said that it costs some 9 million euros a year to police sports matches but ELAS only receives 5 percent of the income from ticket sales (some 900,000 euros a year) as well as 10 percent of the money teams earn from TV rights, which amounts to some 1.9 million euros annually. ELAS was criticized earlier this week for not doing more to stop hooliganism. CLINIC FIRE Pensioners evacuated in early hours Eight elderly citizens were treated for smoke inhalation yesterday after a fire broke out at the Aghia Irini medical clinic in central Athens, firefighters said. The fire is likely to have been caused by a short circuit, according to authorities. Thirty firefighters using 10 fire trucks were involved in the operation which took place at 4.20 a.m. Party off The annual award gala to reveal the world’s top soccer player will not be held in Athens next week, General Secretary for Sport Stavros Douvis said yesterday. The event, organized by FIFPro, which represents professional players worldwide, was to be held on Monday but Douvis said that there was a dispute with the two English companies involved in the organization of the gala. Douvis said there were doubts whether many of the stars due to receive awards would actually attend the event, so the hosts thought it best to cancel. Medium fraudster A 46-year-old woman is to face trial in Thessaloniki on multiple fraud charges after allegedly swindling 41,500 euros from a university lecturer by posing as a medium. The unnamed woman allegedly promised to use psychic powers to reunite the man with his former lover. The lecturer, who claimed to have paid the money in installments between June 2005 and March of this year, informed police after realizing that the woman’s efforts had not brought him any closer to the object of his affections. Burglary ring Police yesterday broke up a ring of burglars believed to have been behind a string of raids on homes across Attica over the past few months, including two early yesterday, one in Voula and another in Glyfada. A patrol car, alerted by the victim of the first burglary, chased the thieves in their stolen getaway car after the second burglary and managed to arrest one of the four. Another two men and a woman fled but were arrested later in the day after a raid on a house in Aegaleo. Drug arrests Police in Thessaloniki arrested a 47-year-old man in the city center yesterday on suspicion that he was trying to sell a stash of 62 kilos of hashish. Officers said they caught the unnamed man as he was trying to sell a quantity of the drug to three men. The remainder of the stash was found at an apartment he had rented. Hospital cleanup Health Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos said yesterday that adequate measures are being taken in the removal of chemical substances found in air-duct filters at the Aghia Sophia Children’s Hospital in Athens. The minister added that legal action taken by hospital staff over the hazardous chemicals was initiated before the ministry completed the cleanup operation. Bus changes The Athens Urban Transport Association said yesterday there will be changes to bus and trolley routes on Sunday morning due to the Athens Classic Marathon race. The changes will occur between 7.15 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. Passengers can call 185 for further details.
