In Brief
VOURLOUMIS QUESTIONED
Judge asks OTE telecom CEO about ‘overpriced’ contracts The chairman and managing director of OTE telecom, Panagis Vourloumis, was yesterday allowed to walk free after being questioned by a magistrate in connection to accusations of breach of faith over the signing of contracts in 2005 that were worth some 40 million euros. OTE has been accused of overpaying for some technical support services but Vourloumis, and 10 other members of the company’s board who have also been released after questioning, deny the charges. POLICEMAN ARRESTED Officer took bribe for ID card A policeman serving in the prefecture of Achaia in the Peloponnese has been arrested on suspicion of demanding money from an Albanian man who wanted to be issued with a Greek identity card, the force’s Internal Affairs squad said yesterday. The officer was arrested after accepting 300 euros in marked notes from the Albanian, who said that the policeman had demanded the cash in exchange for issuing him with a special identity card that is only given to ethnic Greeks returning from abroad. The police have begun the process to suspend the officer, who was not named. Turkish violation A formation of six Turkish fighter jets entered Greek air space yesterday in the latest violation to take place over the northern Aegean this week. Hellenic Air Force planes intercepted the Turkish F-16s. Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis is expected to raise the issue of Turkish violations at the European Union General Affairs Council in Brussels, which takes place on Monday and Tuesday next week. It is the first such council to be held during the Swedish presidency of the EU. Uncivil robbery Two men who held up a civil engineering office in Hania, Crete, yesterday made off with some 25,000 euros, according to police. The two robbers, who had covered their faces, entered the building shortly before 2 p.m. brandishing a sawn-off shotgun. They asked all four employees and the civil engineer who owned the office to lie facedown on the floor as they took the money. There was a large amount of cash in the office as it was pay day for employees and suppliers. The two suspects made off on a scooter. Failed attack A homemade explosive device was removed from a boat belonging to one of the country’s big shipping firms yesterday after a guard at a marina in the coastal suburb of Glyfada contacted police. The device, which comprised gas canisters, petrol and a timer, had been put in an auxiliary vessel that was moored next to a larger yacht, according to police. The device failed to go off, as it was incorrectly wired, forensic experts said, adding that the attempted attack was unlikely the work of any established terrorist group. Child porn Police in Thessaloniki yesterday detained a 38-year-old private school teacher on charges of trading in child pornography following a raid on his home in the district of Polichni that unearthed several computer hard drives and disks that allegedly contained explicit images. According to police, the suspect has been trading in hardcore child pornography since 2002.
