Ex-minister accused of corrupting investigations
The trial of a former government official and a prosecutor charged with obstruction of justice in corruption cases continued Tuesday, with a retired prosecutor accusing the minister of trying to direct his investigations to target specific individuals.
Panagiotis Athanasiou, a retired deputy Supreme Court prosecutor, testified that when he was head of the Financial Crimes prosecutor’s office, Dimitris Papangelopoulos, alternate justice minister for corruption issues in the leftist-led SYRIZA government from 2015-19, interfered in his work, asking him to fabricate evidence against prominent journalist Giorgos Papachristos.
Papangelopoulos also pressured the prosecutor to impound bank accounts of Yiannis Alafouzos, head of the private Skai TV station, during the time of the bids for the renewal of broadcasting licenses, so that he would be unable to take part in the bidding.
