Minister to halt peer’s bid to hire civil servants facing charges

Interior Minister Panayiotis Kouroublis on Thursday expressed his intention to submit legislation as soon as Parliament opens to stop hundreds of civil servants charged with crimes or misdemeanors from returning to their jobs, as foreseen by a bill drafted by his cabinet colleague Giorgos Katrougalos in the previous SYRIZA-led government.

“These people cannot return to their jobs. It’s not up for discussion,” Kouroublis told Real FM, adding that he has already notified Alternate Administrative Reform Minister Christoforos Vernardakis about drawing up the “corrective” provisions.

Kouroublis’s comments were a swipe at Katrougalos, who drew up legislation in the previous government, when he was administrative reform minister, allowing some 900 civil servants charged with crimes or misdemeanors to return to their jobs by mid-September if a council of judges has not ruled on their cases by then.

Of some 900 cases of Greek civil servants who faced charges for crimes or misdemeanors in January, 466 have yet to be heard. Of those 466 people, some have returned to their jobs.

Katrougalos sought to defend himself in comments to ANT1 TV on Thursday, drawing a distinction between those who have been found guilty and those who face trial. He also emphasized the need for the judicial councils “to function so cases do not drag out.”