Panousis hits out at government, says will seek recordings
Former citizens’ protection minister Yiannis Panousis on Wednesday told a parliamentary committee that he was “hounded” by SYRIZA cadres during his stint in government and claimed that he is still being “targeted.”
“I am being targeted, attacked by the left,” Panousis told Parliament’s Institutions and Transparency Committee.
The former minister, whose claims that he received death threats and that SYRIZA officials had links with convicted terrorists have prompted a judicial investigation, hit out at government officials. “They are handling it the wrong way,” he said.
“I tried to tone things down and to see Tsipras,” he said, adding that, “I only trust Tsipras.”
Panousis is said to have given prosecutors the transcripts of telephone conversations that allegedly back up his claims of ties between some SYRIZA officials and jailed terrorists. When he faces a prosecutor on Thursday, he said he will ask for the original audio of those conversations, which are said to have been wiretapped by the National Intelligence Agency (EYP).
Panousis said he expected a different reaction from the government following his claims. “I expected the government and SYRIZA to support me in striking against the parastate,” he said.
Justice Minister Nikos Paraskevopoulos, who has taken legal action over the alleged leaking of state documents, is to face the parliamentary committee next Wednesday.
