A recorded conversation accompanying a photo during a sting operation shows the head of a children’s hospital in Athens who was arrested on suspicion of demanding a 25,000-euro ($34,360) bribe of saying he would be an “idiot” if he didn’t get paid off and that he would otherwise cancel a contract to help obese children.
Haris Tombouloglou, President of the Aglaia Kyriakou Children’s Hospital, in Athens, Greece was ejected from the ruling New Democracy party after being charged on Christmas Eve and will appear before a magistrate on Dec. 29 after being given more time to prepare his defense although he said “the truth will shine.” A 40-year-old alleged accomplice said to be the go-between will also testify.
Tombouloglou said the money was a gift to the hospital and not to him. He faces charges of blackmail and bribe taking. Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis ruled out Tombouloglou’s claim.
“For a donation to take place, it must first be approved by the board … There is no such thing as an oral deal made in a cafeteria,” Georgiadis said. He said the government will have “zero tolerance” for corruption. Tombouloglou was also removed from the hospital’s board of directors and fired from the National Bank, where he was also working while working for the hospital.
The taped conversation was damning, with Tombouloglou reportedly saying: “What kind of an idiot would I be to have made a 190,000-euro ($261,150) deal and not kept a cent for myself?”
He could also be heard threatening to cancel a tender for the program to combat child obesity that the private firm won in early 2013, if he did not get the money.
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