Legal steps on money scandals
As national elections draw nearer, legal proceedings in two of the country’s biggest financial scandals are expected to move ahead today and could have a strong impact on the domestic political scene. More than three months after a preliminary investigation was launched into state pension funds buying overpriced bonds, appeals prosecutor Giorgos Koliocostas is expected to announce charges today for six crimes and two misdemeanors. The charges are likely to include fraud, forming a criminal gang and money laundering. Irrespective of which suspects are eventually brought to trial, the bond scandal has already dented the popularity of the conservative government less than nine months before the next national elections. Meanwhile, main opposition PASOK has requested that a parliamentary committee be set up to investigate the bond scandal. The request will be discussed in Parliament today. Separately, a new trial will begin today in a case involving claims that the State Portfolio Management Agency (DEKA) had purchased shares for the purpose of supporting prices ahead of the 2000 national elections in a scam that allegedly cost the government 700 million euros. In December, an appeals court cleared DEKA’s former officials of breach of faith to the prejudice of the public interest, ruling that DEKA was an independent company and its officials should have been charged with common breach of faith, which has a five-year statute of limitations.
