Council indicts 59 over misuse of power union’s funding
Four years after the launch of an initial probe into the alleged misuse of millions of euros in funding by the powerful GENOP union – representing workers of the Public Power Corporation – a council of appeals court judges on Wednesday indicted 59 people to trial on charges including breach of faith and fraud.
The suspects include former chief executive officers and other onetime senior officials of PPC as well as GENOP’s former president, Nikos Fotopoulos.
A 600-page document explaining the ruling provides a detailed breakdown of the suspicious expenses. They include expensive trips, sojourns in luxury hotels, opulent dinners and other extravagances. Some of the funding given to GENOP by PPC was even said to have been used by the union to take legal action against the company.
“In most cases, the documents did not include reference to the reason for which the funding was being sought (trip, dinner, gift etc) nor the names of those involved which would have allowed the expense to be properly checked,” the report said.
The indictments were a long time in the making. In 2011, the head of Greece’s public administration watchdog, Leandros Rakintzis, compiled a report on the alleged misuse of funds by GENOP while the Financial Crimes Squad carried out a parallel investigation.
A judicial investigation followed, resulting in Wednesday’s ruling.
