Greece’s corruption prosecutors on Monday sent the case file on their investigation into allegations of wrongdoing in the sale of the ‘Henry Dunant Hospital Centre‘ to Parliament, asking MPs to decide whether former ministers in the New Democracy-PASOK coalition governments should be charged in connection with the case.
The prosecutors launched their investigation in response to claims by the hospital’s former director Andreas Martinis that there had been “orchestrated business-political actions” that led to the hospital’s sale at an excessively low price. Martinis made the allegations last November to the prosecutors in Korydallos prison, while he himself was jailed on remand, charged of financial wrongdoing at the hospital’s expense. The prison prosecutors then alerted the prosecuting authorities for corruption cases.
According to Martinis, former ministers Adonis Georgiadis, Costis Hatzidakis, Panagiotis Mitarakis, Andreas Lykourentzos and Mavroudis Voridis all contributed so that the hospital was sold “for a song” in a 2014 auction, to a company belonging to the Piraeus Bank group. He also named the current head of the Piraeus Bank group and the late businessman Andreas Vgenopoulos as being involved in “arranging” the sale.
The investigation was launched by the chief prosecutor for corruption cases Eleni Raikou, who resigned over the weekend, and was assigned to the prosecutor Antonis Eleftherianos. The investigation was stopped, however, since the allegations involve possible criminal actions by former ministers and these must be judged by Parliament, under current legislation. The case file was forwarded to Parliament on Monday by Justice Minister Stavros Kontonis.
(source: ana-mpa)
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