Pavlidis’s bank accounts to be opened
A committee of MPs set up to investigate charges of corruption against former Aegean Minister Aristotelis Pavlidis yesterday called for the opening of his bank accounts and those of others close to him. The committee decided to open the accounts of Pavlidis, his brother, his daughter and the individual who sold him a home in Neo Psychico after testimony by the ex-minister’s associate, Antonis Vardoulakis, raised doubts. Vardoulakis is alleged to have cashed a check for 210,000 euros made out to the former minister’s brother, cash which Pavlidis’s daughter allegedly used to buy a home. Meanwhile, the director of a company owned by shipowner Fotis Manousis, whose claims of blackmail launched the probe against Pavlidis, told the committee that he had seen the ex-minister’s aide leaving Manousis’s office holding a bag alleged to have contained 100,000 euros. The committee said it would put off until after Easter the examination of fresh blackmail charges brought against Pavlidis by the mayor of the Aegean island of Tilos. In a related development, the government rejected calls by opposition PASOK for another committee to be set up to probe the Siemens scandal, saying such a move would impede the course of justice.
