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Economic police investigates five politicians, two of them are former ministers

09 January 2011 / 14:01:51  GRReporter
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New strong evidence against a famous politician were discovered during the checks carried out in relation with the purchase made by him of a home in an expensive neighborhood in downtown Athens, was said in a publication of the newspaper Kathimerini. A member of the investigating team has stated before the edition that "the verification of the individual would have ended if we Cypriot authorities had cooperated, which however refuse to help us. Nevertheless, we found serious strong evidence upon which allegations of serious violations may be made". The coordinated investigation of the manner in which the politician has acquired his assets has given results. The controllers have also investigated the manner of acquisition of income of relatives and friends of the politician as well as the public procurements in the field of defense.

The focus of attention is also on another former minister, whose name was implicated in cases that were or are still subject of investigations by parliamentary committees. Doubts have been cast upon the lawfulness of the manner in which he and his wife have acquired their assets.

However, the latest thing in the case is that the authority to prosecute economic crimes investigate politicians whose names have not been mentioned so far in connection with such violations.

Auditors investigate in detail the financial status and the manner of acquisition of ownership of five politicians, two of whom had once held senior government positions. Some of the five are members of  Parliament from the main opposition party. In the investigation against them auditors work closely with banks in which the lawmakers have deposited money.

The checks have not started the same way for all politicians. For some of them in the Authority for prosecution of economic crimes were received anonymous complaints in which in details have been described the presence of hidden aspects to their assets. For others, the investigation began after auditors "came across" them during controls for more cases of tax evasion. In particular, data on the presence of undeclared assets of an MP in today’s Parliament have been sent in the Authority to prosecute economic crimes shortly after the publication of the financial status of the politicians. According to competent authorities the extremely low declared incomes of the MP are sharply inconsistent with his bank accounts, and especially with the flow of enormously greater than the declared income, amounts of money.

The auditors have received a similar complaint also for another Member of Parliament - a member of one of the parliamentary committees that investigate controversial cases. The complaint was classified as very important and the initiated investigation proved the original audit assessment that "there is something very serious in relation to the real property status of the MP".

Very popular are also the names of the other politicians who are being investigated by the auditors after the initial inspections associated with owning large yachts. A person of high position from the Authority to prosecute economic crimes claimed that "our findings are very serious and we will soon be able to prove absolutely everything we found". According to him "the investigations are conducted in a very careful manner". They also affect state workers who in recent years have exercised control over large public procurements, especially in the field of defense. A competent source claims that "especially in the field of military equipment our discoveries impressed even those grown accustomed to such audit staff".

For the conduct of the investigations the prime minister's office has been informed. According to government sources the Greek President Karolos Papoulias is also aware of them.

Tags: politics scandal non declared income minister members of Parliament corruption public procurement
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