Vatopedi vote ‘null and void’
The three former ministers who served in the previous New Democracy government and who Parliament voted late on Tuesday should be indicted over their alleged role in the Vatopedi Monastery real estate swap are likely to have their cases thrown out by the Judicial Council due to a legal technicality, it emerged yesterday. ND asked that the vote in Parliament, which indicted former Deputy Finance Minister Petros Doukas and ex-agriculture ministers Alexandros Kontos and Evangelos Bassiakos, to be annulled as there was a mistake on the ballot paper. It had been pointed out by an MP of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) and the Communist Party (KKE) before the vote that the ballot paper referred to Article 390 of the penal code, which details the offense of breach of faith, but the wording of the motion was taken from Article 256, which refers to «disloyalty to the service,» a much more serious offense. MPs admitted yesterday that this slip-up will likely lead to the Judicial Council declaring the vote invalid. It is unclear if the House will be able to vote again.
