Third ERGOSE official released on bail in Tempe crash probe

The third defendant to testify before the European Public Prosecutor’s Greek representative on Tempe-related contract 717 has been released on bail of €700,000.

The defendant, who was an official at ERGOSE, the projects branch of Hellenic Railways (OSE), is also banned from leaving the country.

He joins two other ERGOSE officials who were released on Thursday after testifying before investigator Christina Salappa.

They were the first of 14 ERGOSE employees and a total of 23 individuals facing similar charges in the criminal proceedings launched by the Greek branch of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.

They are facing charges of fraud, complicity to commit fraud, false certification, breach of trust and complicity to commit breach of trust. The EPPO probe is separate from the one conducted by the Greek judicial authorities.

Contract 717 relates to signaling and other work that was not carried out and resulted in the deadly train collision at Tempi, in which 57 people, mostly university students, were killed.

Testimonies will continue and the process is expected to conclude at the end of April.