Bailout probe goes to Parliament

Prosecutors investigating claims by Panayiotis Roumeliotis, Greece’s ex-envoy to the International Monetary Fund, that it had been clear from the start that the country’s bailout was bound to fail, on Wednesday sent the case to the Supreme Court, pending a parliamentary investigation, after it emerged that prominent political figures may be implicated.

The prosecutors, Grigoris Peponis and Panayiotis Mouzakitis, have heard the testimony of Roumeliotis — who reportedly backed up his claims by submitting written documents — as well as of former PASOK ministers Louka Katseli and her husband Gerasimos Arsenis. They had been due to summon another ex-minister, Vasso Papandreou, but this was called off. On Tuesday, Arsenis reportedly revealed to prosecutors that Roumeliotis had expressed reservations about the viability of the bailout program to him in private.

In a related development, left-wing opposition SYRIZA called for a parliamentary committee to be set up to investigate the circumstances around Greece’s first bailout appeal.

Πηγή: ekathimerini.com