The House of Representatives decided to prosecute Christos Triandopoulos for the offence of misconduct in office with a broad majority of 190 MPs, against 10 who voted against.

According to the positions expressed by the representatives of the parliamentary groups during the discussion of the findings of the Pre-Investigative Committee, the deputies of the New Democracy and PASOK voted in favour of the indictment of the former deputy minister, while the MPs of PLEIS Eleftherias and 4 independents voted against it, while SYRIZA, KKE, Hellenic Solution, New Left and Niki withdrew, protesting against the procedure followed.

The next steps

According to the steps outlined in the Constitution and the law on the responsibility of ministers, a new public session of the Parliament’s plenary will follow, most likely after the Easter holidays, where Parliament Speaker Nikitas Kaklamanis will draw the five full and three alternate members to form the Judicial Council.

The Judicial Council is composed of three members of the Supreme Court and two members of the Council of State and is chaired by the highest ranking member of the Supreme Court or, among peers, the most senior member of the Supreme Court. At the same meeting, the acting prosecutor of the Council and his deputy shall be called by the members of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Supreme Court.

The senior judicial officials will proceed to a main interrogation with the possibility of examining witnesses and evidence, while if they identify evidence that requires the expansion of the indictment with new offences against Mr. Triandopoulos or with the addition of other ministers involved, then they will immediately send the relevant request to Parliament.

At the same time, they will also examine possible requests for the invalidity of the procedure followed by the preliminary inquiry of the Parliament and if their judgment agrees with the objections raised by the opposition parties, they will return the case to the Parliament, in order to resume the procedure in compliance with the constitutional provisions.