Authorities Launch Inquiry Of 'Suspiciously Wealthy" MPs

Supreme Court Deputy Prosecutor Nikos Pantelis, responsible for financial crimes, instructed Financial Crimes Prosecutors Grigoris Peponis and Spiros Mouzakitis -otherwise known as the dynamic duo of crime- to investigate press reports about an alleged list of 33 current and former MPs of the New Democracy and PASOK parties with suspiciously large personal fortunes. According to reports appearing in the media, the list was put together by the financial crimes squad SDOE following a painstaking investigation lasting several months. The sources did say, however, that only five of these MPs has come under more careful scrutiny from SDOE.

Pantelis therefore instructed his colleagues to first verify reports that such a list exists and, if the reports are proved true, to conduct a preliminary investigation to determine whether crimes such as tax-evasion, money-laundering or other activities to amass illegally obtained wealth have been committed and by whom. Should the prosecutors find evidence of such offences carried out by ministers, they will have to refer the case to Parliament in accordance with laws on ministerial liability. If the evidence implicates serving MPs, on the other hand, the prosecutors will be free to carry out all investigative acts needed to ascertain that the offence was committed but not those 'impinging on the person of an MP', for which they will have to first ask that the MP's Parliamentary immunity be lifted.

Based on reports, SDOE investigated roughly 500 current and former MPs and discovered that there were significant discrepancies between the earnings and the income declared for 33 past and present Parliamentarians. After seeking and gaining access to the bank account records of the 33 individuals involved, sources say that questions have arisen concerning five MPs, which some quarters insist are also ministers. (AMNA)

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