Minister stirs ND storm
Attempts by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis to halt speculation about the future of his ministers, Giorgos Voulgarakis in particular, appeared to have had little success within his own party as a number of conservative politicians suggested that the merchant marine minister should step down. Pressure on Voulgarakis is likely to mount after the minister’s claims that he was not involved in any business activities while he was a shareholder in two real estate firms appeared to fall apart yesterday. Kathimerini understands that one of the companies, owned by an offshore firm, bought two stores and a parking space in Petralona, southern Athens for 418,000 euros in 2000. A few days later, it bought another store near central Athens for more than 1.1 million euros. The other firm bought 700 square meters of office space in the high-rise Athens Tower for 3.7 million euros in 2005, sources said. In his source of wealth statement, which all politicians must submit, Voulgarakis declared only the 9,000 euros he invested in the firm as share capital. The purchase of the property was funded by Piraeus Bank. One of the group’s subsidiaries rented the office until Voulgarakis sold the company for 70,002 euros in 2007. Voulgarakis insists he has not broken any laws, arguing that the real estate firms were not set up to trade but to manage properties owned by his family. Karamanlis backed his minister while speaking in Thessaloniki on Saturday, saying: «When we are dealing with legal activities that have been declared for a number of years… it is clear that we are not talking about illegal, unethical and undesirable actions.» But the prime minister’s stance appears to have little support within his own party. «If a politician wants to be a businessman, he should cease to be a politician,» said Yiannis Kefaloyiannis, a New Democracy veteran and adviser to Karamanlis. «I think it is the last time that the prime minister covers up for one of his ministers,» said Thessaloniki’s conservative prefect Panayiotis Psomiadis. «This can’t be the public image of New Democracy,» said MP and former Employment Minister Panos Panayiotopoulos. «Whatever I have to say I will say to the prime minister and it is likely to be much more bitter than our discussion here,» he told reporters.
