The former CEO of Hellenic Train, Maurizio Capotorto, has been summoned as a suspect by the Athens Prosecutor’s Office, according to reports.

The summons for a deposition without an oath relates to the offense of providing false testimony before the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee on the Tempi train crash in January 2024.

Specifically, the Prosecutor’s Office recently instructed a magistrate to take a statement from the former high-ranking Hellenic Train executive regarding his testimony before the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee a year ago, which had sparked reactions.

Among other things, Mr. Capotorto, as the then-CEO of the company, had stated that any derailments or train deviations were the responsibility of the infrastructure owner, i.e., OSE (the Greek railway organization). Notably, all political parties had agreed to forward Mr. Capotorto’s testimony to the Appellate Prosecutor’s Office for investigation into possible perjury.

Subsequently, the Appellate Prosecutor’s Office forwarded the testimony to the Athens Prosecutor’s Office, which initiated an investigation and ordered the deposition of Mr. Capotorto without an oath. The Athens Prosecutor’s Office has also sent a request to the Larissa Prosecutor’s Office to obtain a certificate regarding the progress of the judicial investigation into the deadly train accident.

According to legal sources, obtaining this certificate is necessary because, under relevant legislation, cases involving false testimony must wait for the main case to be irrevocably concluded before proceeding with any pending related cases. However, there is no issue of statute limitations for the case concerning potential false testimony by the former Hellenic Train executive, as the statute of limitations is suspended.