The answer of the minister of culture to the urgent question of the new leftist MP, who connected the two cases investigated in the judicial authorities
THE Lina Mendoni Today, for the first time, he openly and widely addressed the case of extortion of restaurant owners by a ring that was dismantled a few weeks ago, he answered from the floor, attended by three employees of the Ministry of Culture, among others. Parliament New Left Member of Parliament Dimitris Tzanakopoulou’s topical question.
He explained that on July 9 (three days after the coordinated operation of the police in which the detained employee was arrested), the Internal Affairs Service of the Security Forces informed the Ministry of Culture about the opening of a criminal case. Specific employees were removed from their positions in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Service Code, the National Transparency Agency, the Disciplinary Council and the Ministry’s Internal Audit Department were informed, and an additional document was sent on July 10. On July 19, after receiving a copy of the arrest warrant against the detained employee, he was sent on leave..
He added that both other accused employees were sent to the Disciplinary Department, and the Internal Audit Department was instructed to check all the cases that the employees may have handled.
To an indirect but clear question – the accusation of New Left MP Lina Mendoni, how he guarantees that the law will be applied and that the disciplinary process of employees will not be pretentious, he replied:Therefore, disciplinary councils are independent, disciplinary councils are not affected. You laugh… Maybe it happened in your time, it doesn’t affect them in the time of this Government“.
Minister of Culture also accused the New Left of trying to create a political scandal through recent revelations in the extortion ring case. claiming “the people involved in this heinous affair are the prominent trade union members of PASOK’s original trade unions and the WTO-YPPO faction, close associates of its president, two of whom are appointed to committees by the minister himself, and with their participation, they facilitate their illegal activities“.
In the context of the same pressing question, Dimitris Tzanakopoulos also asked for an explanation of the actions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in another, older, serious case, the Mutual Aid Fund, which was sent to court. Specifically, rwhile he accused the culture minister of treating cases with double standards, he asked why the accused employees were not put on leave, as was the case with the three alleged extortionists.: «We are bringing this matter back because we believe it is one of the most critical issues in the country regarding the management of public money by officials with a total track record of years and apparently you do not want to check the breadth. and depth as the Minister of Culture” he said.
In this second part of the debate, there was tension, tones rose and the Minister of Culture spoke “A sad and futile attempt to connect two unrelated events, driven by attachment to party and personal goals and ideologies to distract from the present reality and the work that is justice today.“.
In addition, he reminded that AThe complete file on the Mutual Aid Fund from 2022 has been sent to the Disciplinary Council of the Ministry of Culture.who is responsible for solving the case.