The situation within the EODASAM, in the wake of yesterday’s intervention by Supreme Court prosecutor Georgia Adilini, the heavy accusations made by deputy president Christos Papadimitriou against European official Bart Akou and expert Kosta Lakafosis, as today Papadimitriou goes so far as to contradict himself.

According to new minutes from today’s Board of Directors meeting, Papadimitriou informed the Board that he received a letter from Kostas Lakafosis. In this letter, Mr. Lackafosis informs Papadimitriou that he has received an e-mail about the participation of EDAPO (member Lackafosis) in the University of Ghent’s research on the pyrosphere since the end of January. It is reported that Mr Papadimitriou was not the main recipient, but the information was communicated to him. Papadimitriou, however, today made the incredible claim that he did not see the mail.

Specifically, the minutes of the meeting state, “(O Mr Papadimitriou) acknowledges the existence of this particular mail, which, due to his huge volume of correspondence and his lack of involvement with the investigation, he had not opened and read the attachments.” In other words, Papadimitriou has raised a question about the involvement of the NDPO in the Ghent investigation, which it turns out he should have known weeks before the report was issued.

In fact, in the same briefing Papadimitriou goes a step further, saying that he does not consider the use of EDAPO by the Commission of Inquiry “illegal”, noting that he “still believes that there were other ways to do the investigation without giving handles on objectivity” and adding that a more appropriate institution would be Democritus or another university.

“Bollocks” to the pyrosphere

But the situation becomes even more virulent in the part concerning the famous pyrosphere. In successive media appearances yesterday, Papadimitriou reiterated that he had expressed objections to ERA’s Bart Akou on the reliability of the conclusions on the pyrosphere’s challenge from unknown fuel, a range of about 2.5 tonnes. He told SKAI radio that the Europeans “consider us Ugandan” and therefore did not want the theory of ignition of silicone oils to prevail in any case, to avoid raising the issue of the corresponding electric cars that carry 2/3 of the trains around Europe.

Today, Mr Papadimitriou is backpedaling full speed ahead, and yesterday he informed the media with statements at the offices of the EODASAM that the part of the conclusion concerning the pyrosphere was being withdrawn and that there would be further investigation. “The EODASAM’s conclusion is a documentation and report on all the errors that led to the crash, and not an investigation into the pyrosphere. The council expresses its support for the conclusion and the excellent work of the investigation team and stresses that the assessment of the non-involvement of silicone oils in the pyrosphere formation phenomenon is based on the attestation of Professor Konstantopoulou of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and of course remains as it is,” the minutes of today’s meeting stated. In other words, the EODASAM is reverting to its original position, which Mr Papadimitriou was disputing.

In fact, from Mr Papadimitriou’s briefing, the Board of EODASAM “in no way declares that the assessment included in the conclusion is wrong but as the committee itself had requested it should be confirmed and certified immediately and when this is done the relevant part of the conclusion will come back with fully certified results and assessments of higher academic institutions“.

Major issue

However, after today’s meeting of the Board of Directors of EODASAM, a major issue arises for Mr Papadimitriou, as he is making erratic moves regarding the investigation of the tragedy, at a time when, apart from the distraught parents, the entire Greek society is calling for clear answers to the tragedy of Tempi. It seems to say everything and its opposites within hours, while a preliminary investigation by the public prosecutor’s office into the findings and any attempted ‘undue influence’ on judicial officials handling the file is now pending. Until a few hours ago, there was no intention from the government to “moratorium” on Mr Papadimitriou, in order not to be seen as interfering in the work of the Agency, while he told his interlocutors that there was no intention to resign. It is a given, however, that in the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport the embarrassment is evident in the events of the last few days.