NEWS

PM aide reveals name

The head of the prime minister’s press office, Yiannis Andrianos, revealed to a magistrate yesterday the identity of the journalist who gave him the DVD at the center of the Zachopoulos case, sparking a media frenzy over the possible implications of this new information. Magistrate Dimitris Economou grilled Andrianos for almost two hours about how the heavily edited DVD, which shows ex-Culture Ministry general secretary Christos Zachopoulos in intimate moments with his former assistant Evi Tsekou, ended up in the government’s hands. Andrianos remained tight-lipped after his appearance in court. «I have said whatever I have to say to the magistrate,» he told journalists. The information could hasten the probe as Economou is set to follow the trail to find out who edited the footage and who was responsible for filming it. Tsekou denies any wrongdoing. However, yesterday’s development also ignited widespread speculation in the media about which journalist was the government’s source. It sparked an exchange of barbs between several newspapers and TV stations as two journalists lodged lawsuits against colleagues whom they believe had suggested the reporters in question were the informants. The Proto Thema newspaper had upped the stakes on Sunday by publishing copies of photographs reportedly taken from the case file submitted by police to magistrates after they had analyzed the DVD. The pictures appear to show Zachopoulos engaging in sexual activity with an unidentified woman. The decision to publish the photographs has caused a rift between Proto Thema’s publishers, TV presenter Themos Anastasiadis and investigative journalist Makis Triantafyllopoulos. Triantafyllopoulos made it clear yesterday that he disagreed with the decision. He also distanced himself from Anastasiadis, suggesting that the TV presenter should resign from the newspaper. Triantafyllopoulos added that he was not convinced by Anastasiadis’s denial that it was he who had handed the DVD to the prime minister’s press office. Tsekou has admitted to approaching Proto Thema and Mega TV before Zachopoulos’s suicide attempt but insists she did not give Mega any audiovisual material. Meanwhile, Zachopoulos continues to recover and is now able to communicate with those around him, although he is not yet able to converse.

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