Polakis to face House’s ethics committee

Parliament’s ethics committee is on Wednesday summoning former alternate health minister Pavlos Polakis to discuss calls for his immunity to be lifted after Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras accused him of recording a private telephone conversation between the two men without his consent as well as accusations of slander by the head of the workers’ union of Greece’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KEELPNO), Stamatis Poulis.

Polakis reacted to the news yesterday by declaring that, as he was minister at the time of the alleged offenses, he should enjoy the immunity granted to ministers by law, which requires that a motion be lodged by at least 30 MPs for immunity to be lifted before Parliament votes on whether to set up a special investigative committee to probe his alleged offenses.

Polakis said he welcomed the probe and indicated that it should be “public and transparent.”