A powerful vortex bringing immediate and serious political developments is being created by the three case files of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, which seek prosecutions for a total of 20 political figures from New Democracy, of whom 14 are sitting MPs and 6 are former members of Parliament.

According to information, the second case file will be transmitted tomorrow, Friday, to Parliament, while the third will likely follow after Easter, as it has not yet even reached the Ministry of Justice.

The government and the opposition are “weighing” their next moves, which will be triggered after the transmission of the relevant case files to Parliament. However, sources from the Maximos Mansion are already factoring in a reshuffle—even if limited in scope—within the next 24 hours. The Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ final decisions will most likely be taken over the weekend.
At the same time, in the corridors of Parliament, there is talk that PASOK and the rest of the opposition parties are considering the possibility of submitting a motion of no confidence.

In any case, the political dimension of the affair is a given; its extent, however, will be largely determined by the actual evidence in the case files, as the emerging elements show a clear gradation of responsibility.

For example, two individuals are said to have direct, felony-level involvement, exerting pressure over OPEKEPE funds; others limit themselves to “clientelist” approaches and recommendations of a misdemeanor nature, while some have entirely indirect involvement, with their names merely invoked by third parties.

It should be noted that all case files concern alleged offenses committed in 2021 only, which does not rule out the possibility that additional files for subsequent years may follow.

The individuals in the third case file
-In any case, the situation forming for the governing majority appears extremely difficult, as yesterday’s announcements about the transmission of a case file involving 11+2 “blue” (ND) figures were followed by a new one regarding a third case file that adds two more sitting ND MPs to the list of those involved.

According to information, these are Charalambos Athanasiou and Tasos Chatzivasileiou. As became known early Thursday afternoon (2/4), the Athens Court of First Instance Prosecutor’s Office now has in its possession the third case file, in which, it appears, there are indications of incitement to breach of duty for the two “blue” MPs, with alleged direct perpetrators being OPEKEPE officials.

According to information from protothema.gr, the conversation for which Mr. Chatzivasileiou is being examined is said to be the contentious one from the interception in the first OPEKEPE case file, over which he had resigned. For Mr. Athanasiou, the same sources note that he is being examined over a communication he had with an OPEKEPE official regarding a case involving a livestock farmer.

As protothema.gr had written earlier, the case file was forwarded by the European Prosecutors to the Athens Court of First Instance Prosecutor’s Office because the offense of breach of duty does not fall under their jurisdiction and, for this reason, the Athens Prosecutor’s Office will forward the file to Parliament with a request to lift the MPs’ immunity.

The offenses under investigation are: fraud, breach of trust, and breach of duty (as well as incitement), and those involved are prosecuted either at felony or misdemeanor level. According to legal sources, misdemeanors, if committed in the 2020–21 period, will be time-barred within 2026 unless the judiciary manages to investigate and refer them to trial in time to extend the limitation period by three years.

Evidence for five former MPs
-Evidence for incitement to breach of trust has also emerged, within the framework of the investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, for five other former MPs, who, however, since they are no longer covered by parliamentary immunity, will be called directly by the European Prosecutors to provide explanations as suspects.

Of course, this does not automatically mean that the five former MPs will become defendants, as this will depend on the explanations they provide, which will then be assessed by the European Prosecutors.

Kostas Karamanlis and Katerina Papakosta
-According to information, the request for lifting immunity from the European justice authorities for felony charges concerns Kostas Ach. Karamanlis and Katerina Papakosta. For the rest, the lifting of immunity is requested for misdemeanors.

The 11 MPs for whom immunity lifting is requested for OPEKEPE
-It is recalled that the Maximos Mansion has been in crisis-management mode since yesterday (1/4), as the case file concerning the 11+2 includes both the request to lift the immunity of 11 ND MPs and the referral to Parliament of two former ministers and deputy ministers of Rural Development for the year 2021 under Article 86, creating a different political environment compared to that prevailing in previous weeks for the government.

The MPs included in the second case file are:

• Maximos Senetakis (Heraklion),
• Lakis Vasileiadis (Pella),
• Notis Mitarakis (Chios),
• Katerina Papakosta (Trikala),
• Kostas Karamanlis (Serres),
• Christos Boukoros (Magnesia),
• Theofilos Leontaridis (Serres),
• Kostas Skrekas (Trikala, secretary general of ND),
• Giannis Kefalogiannis (Rethymno, Minister of Civil Protection and Climate Crisis),
• Kostas Tsiaras (Karditsa, Minister of Rural Development and Food),
• Dimitris Vartzopoulos (Thessaloniki B’, Deputy Minister of Health).