Prosecutor claims minister interfered in investigation

Appeals court prosecutor Georgia Tsatani, who was responsible for investigating businessman Andreas Vgenopoulos, has alleged that Alternate Justice Minister Dimitris Papangelopoulos put pressure on her to suspend her probe and return the case file to the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office.

Tsatani told judicial authorities that Papangelopoulos accused her of trying to cover up for some of the individuals involved in the case. The prosecutor claims the minister made indirect threats against her and that she has evidence of his phone calls to her.

Papangelopoulos has responded with a letter to Parliament Speaker Nikos Voutsis denying that he ever discussed details of the case with Tsatani. He confirmed that he asked her to hand back the case file but insisted that this was because she did not have the right to take on the investigation in the first place.

Supreme Court President Vassiliki Thanou announced last week that she would investigate Tsatani’s recent decision to shelve her probe into Vgenopoulos and the 2013 collapse of Laiki Bank in Cyprus, where he was chairman. Cypriot authorities questioned the suspension of the investigation.