Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is at a war of words with media owner Stavros Psycharis over a meeting between the two and an alleged bribe attempt.
In a To Vima newspaper report published on Sunday, the two men met four times between February and July 2014. That was before Tsipras’ leftist party SYRIZA won the general elections in January 2015.
The two men met three times before the May 2014 elections for the European Parliament and the Greek Municipal elections when SYRIZA showed its strength by winning several seats in the EU parliament and having party members win mayorships. Their talks before the elections were of no particular significance. It was two men of influence who got to know each other and measure their intentions, the report says.
The publisher owns influential newspapers To Vima and Ta Nea, is major share holder of Mega TV channel, owns a radio station and several news portals. More importantly, the 71-year-old publisher has a lot of influence on political developments in post-dictatorship Greece.
The fourth meeting, on July 4, 2014 carried a lot of weight. In that meeting, Tsipras allegedly asked Psycharis to support him.
According to the publication, Tsipras confided to a close associate that he met with Psycharis and promised him that if he has the support of his media and wins the elections, he will make sure that the loans of his conglomerate will be written off and that he will help him take full control of Mega television.
Yet, the SYRIZA president told his associate that despite his offer, Psycharis’ media did not support the ambitious politician. “What else should I do?” Tsipras allegedly told his associate.
After the publishing of the report, the prime minister’s office issued the following statement:
“The report is very revealing and shows that publisher Stavros Psycharis persistently asked the president of SYRIZA, long before the elections of January 2015, the write-off of his loan, and political mediation for the acquisition of the total ownership of MEGA. As everyone knows, none of the two requests was accepted. The prime minister pledged to the Greek people that he will not do favors for anyone. Justice acts independently and there will be an open and fair international competition for the acquisition of Broadcast Media licensing.”
To that, the answer of the newspaper was:
“It is not surprising that the Maximos Mansion attempts to say that white is black. It is the usual practice followed lately. We urge the people at the prime minister’s office re-read the revealing report to understand, to realize (and remember …) who offered what and when, who sought political support at every opportunity when nothing was offered. Furthermore, the Maximos Mansion has forgotten the law of gold reserves in journalism. Now they have the opportunity to learn it.”
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