Court hears from retired Navy officer sued former PM over pre-election pledges

A First Instance Court discussed on Thursday a civil lawsuit filed by a retired Lieutenant of the Navy against former prime minister George Papandreou, in which he is requesting compensation totaling 260,000 euros for moral damage suffered from the latter’s pre-election pledges in 2009 which were not kept.

Panagiotis Stamatis claimed in court Papandreou alleged during the election campaign that the Greek state had money although he had already been informed by the then central bank governor Giorgos Provopoulos about the dire state of the country’s finances. The plaintiff said Papandreou had also met with the former head of the International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn to discuss Greece’s acceptance of a bailout. He also cited a statement by the former prime minister after his election where he said he is governing a “corrupt country”.

Papandreou was not present at the hearing and was represented by his lawyers. Asked by one of the lawyers if he had also filed a civil lawsuit against other politicians the plaintiff responded he had served in NATO and asked them not to try to make him look ridiculous.

The court’s decision will be issued in the next few months.