The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered a probe into reports that the
Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE) has compiled a list of 30 politicians,
including former ministers, current lawmakers, local authority officials
and general secretaries at ministries, who it is investigating for
corruption and tax evasion.
Supreme Court deputy prosecutor Nikos
Pantelis asked Greece’s two financial prosecutors, Grigoris Peponis and
Spyros Mouzakitis, to conduct a preliminary investigation to establish
whether such a list exists and what stage SDOE’s probe has reached. If
the list exists, then prosecutors will take over the investigation.
SDOE
began looking into the financial dealings of some 500 national and
local politicians earlier this year. At the beginning of this month, it
announced that it had frozen the assets of 121 suspected tax evaders as
part of a separate investigation.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry
said on Wednesday that it would launch disciplinary proceedings against
all those involved in the awarding of disability benefits to dozens of
people of Zakynthos who claimed to be blind but had no problem with
their vision.
During checks earlier this year, the IKA-ETAM social
security fund found that 388 islanders were claiming the benefits. It
asked all these people to submit themselves for new medical checks. Of
those, 167 did not come forward. Of the remaining 221, only 39, or just
under 20 percent, were found to have complications with their sight.
Zakynthos
Mayor Stelios Bozikis said that the fraudulent claims were costing the
Greek state 2.5 million euros per year. The doctor who issued the
blindness certificates was transferred away from the island pending the
investigation.
In a related development, the Labor Ministry said
it had stopped paying 8,800 pensions after the recipients failed to
respond during a census that was launched last year. It was not clear
how much this was saving the government.
SEEE More Hellenic News from KATHIMERINH NWES PAPER IN ATHENS
|
|
