Greek Prosecutor Ioannis Koutras said on Friday that there was no evidence to implicate Andreas Georgiou, the former International Monetary Fund (IMF) economist that later headed the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT). Finding no proof that the official had tampered with figures on public debt, the prosecutor — addressing the Council of Appeals — recommended that he should not stand trial for allegations of tampering with Greece’s 2009 deficit figure in order to justify a bailout by the Eurozone and the IMF.
Koutras said that he found no evidence against the former ELSTAT chief, however, his is not the last word, as Georgiou still needs to be vindicated by the Council of Appeals. The prosecutor came to his decision following the opening of the case by the Supreme Court in August in order to investigate whether or not he had tampered with Greece’s public debt data.
Georgiou was head of the organization until 2015. He said that the constant questioning of official data could have implications for Greece and affect the country’s efforts to secure debt relief from its Eurozone creditors. A few months ago, the Greek Deputy Justice Minister Dimitris Papangelopoulos had accused the European Commission of violating the country’s constitution by dispatching a letter urging the Greek government to deny that Georgiou had rigged the official data.
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