Samaras Calls For “National Consensus” - Says SYRIZA Behind Haikalis Accusations (VIDEOS)

Just days before the second crucial vote for the new President of the Republic, a cloud of uncertainty is hovering over Greece's political system which was created by the allegations of a plot to bribe MPs. In such a climate, Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras on Sunday proposed a new plan to end this political deadlock in a televised address. He called for a “national consensus” towards the election of a new President of the Republic and asked parliamentarians to forget about snap elections so that Greece can achieve an agreement over a restructuring of its debt as well as begin the process of constitutional reform.

Samaras urged MPs to find common ground, making proposals that approach those made by a group of several independent MPs who have stated that they would be willing to vote for a new president under certain conditions – the most significant of which is that early general elections be held in 2015.

Commenting on the accusations of attempts to bribe MPs, Samaras said that Greece "cannot continue the orgy of unfounded and despicable accusations” and noted that ‘elections must not happen’ immediately.”

At the same time he slammed the main opposition party SYRIZA as well as the Independent Greeks party (ANEL) for the toxic charges that were made last week about possible bribaries.

     “Charges, that unfortunately, the main opposition leader (Alexis Tsipras), his party's top cadres and his well known associate, the leader of a third party, are the protagonists.”

The Greek PM said implied that MPs who voted in favour of the government’s presidential candidate must have also been bribed. (Which kind of sounds absurd).

     “But MPs do not succumb to such a campaign of discredit. Fear and terror will not pass. And this is the democracy's wager today,” Samaras said.

Samaras argued that if elections were held now then this would harm Greece given the uncertainty over the future its financing following the expiration of the Memorandum agreement at the end of February. He added that if elections were held now then this would also postpone the process of constitutional reform for many years (or until 2020+).

     “It is extremely serious for Greece's course to negotiate the new agreement that will shield Greece, after the end of the memorandum,” he said.
     “I still hope for the support of all MPs in order to proceed and to complete the revision of the Constitution so that very soon Greece has the new Constitution it needs. The country must not be thrown into a new series of tribulations and to postpone the revision for many years.”
     “Furthermore after the presidential election we can broaden the government with the participation of more persons that believe in the European prospect of the country in order for the next phase to find us more united.”

Samaras explained that national obligation (and common sense) dictates that Greece has to first complete the negotiations with its creditors and then complete the Constitutional revision. This, he stressed, has to be conducted in conditions of stability and calmness. He said that once this is achieved, and Greece is shielded economically and politically, then it can find the right time to hold national elections. The PM hinted that this could occur by the end of 2015, because in conditions of pre-election polarization, only fools would believe that anyone could negotiate for the economy or revise the Constitution.

     "That's what the voice of responsibility says to the Greek people."

On Saturday and while addressing his party’s Regional Conference in Kozani, SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras said that Pavlos Haikalis, the ANEL MP who reported last Friday that someone attempted to bribe him in order to vote for President of the Republic, rose to the occasion and did his duty.

     “Whatever is behind this sordid story, we must point out that Mr. Chaikalis has done his duty,” Mr. Tsipras said, adding that by rising to the occasion, the ANEL MP proved that not everyone in Greece is corrupted

Meanwhile, Elena Tzouli, the wife of the Independent Greeks (ANEL) leader Panos Kammenos, and lawyer of ANEL MP Pavlos Haikalis told the press on Sunday that the Appeals Prosecution knew the name of Yorgos Apostolopoulos since December 6th and did not act on it. Kammenos' wife apparently accompanied Haikalis to the prosecutor’s office on Sunday, where he was called to give a supplementary testimony in relation to the attempted bribery case.

According to her, when the bribery complaint was first filed on December 6th, Kammenos and Haikalis agreed not to reveal the name of the accused following a recommendation by the head of the Appeals prosecution Isidoros Doyiakos.

She also asked the prosecution to lift the secrecy of communications so that Apostolopoulos’s phone conversations on the evening of December 12th could reveal who was behind the bribery attempt.

Turning to the lawsuit that was filed by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’, she said that she was puzzled as to why Samaras chose to file a lawsuit against Haikalis "and not the accused". She said that this is why her client is thinking about filing a counter-lawsuit against the Greek prime minister.

She said that Haikalis characterized as ludicrous Apostolopoulos story that he offered the money to the ANEL MP to prove to the party’s leader that he was weak and corrupted, noting that the accused never presented the recorded conversations neither to the police nor to Mr. Kammenos. They also said that they asked to read Apostolopoulos’ testimony to the prosecutor in order to file a lawsuit.

Following his testimony on Saturday, Apostolopoulos' lawyer, Pavlos Sarakis told the press that his client responded immediately to the prosecutor’s request to provide explanations on Haikalis attempted bribery allegations, without asking for an extension.

Reports in the Greek press claim that Apostolopoulos told the prosecutor that Haikalis was the one who suggested that he would be willing to vote for President of the Republic if his financial problems were resolved. Moreover, he said that the video presented by Haikalis has been edited and that he has proof for that.

As for his motives behind the offer he made to bribe the ANEL MP, Apostolopoulos said that he only did that to show to the leader of the party just how corrupt and weak Haikalis is.

Our conclusion here at HellasFrappe can only be described with specific adjectives: Toxic, murky, dirty and foul smelling. The whole thing stinks from a mile away. The allegation is bizarre and it will take some time to disentangle what exactly has taken place. The only thing that is certain is that there is a scandal here, but it remains to be seen what kind of scandal it actually is. Does it involve an attempt to bribe an MP, or does it involve unfounded allegations made by a political party?

Stay tuned Frappers, guess we will find out in the days to come

Read the background to this story by clicking HERE