Eleni Raikou’s testimony at the Special Court – What the prosecutor said about the minister on trial

By Ioanna Mandrou

He described the former (deputy) Minister of Justice as “intrusive, pushy and burdensome”. Dimitris Papagelopoulos, before the Special Court n appeals prosecutor Eleni Raikouone of the public prosecutors who have denounced the former minister for interference in their work.

Eleni Raikou, who received loads of questions from both the defense of the prosecutor Eleni Touloupakis and the on trial ex-minister Dimitris Papagelopoulos, referred to events that happened during her term as head of the Corruption Prosecution, when she had already started the investigation for the illegal practices of Novartis.

The witness, referring to the pressures of Dimitris Papagelopoulos in order, as he has argued, to send the Novartis file on political figures without evidence, characterized Papagelopoulos’ attitude as “blackmailing”, while completely separating the pressures he reported from the then government (SYRIZA) by repeating that “I was never chased by SYRIZA. Everyone was supportive, except for the accused minister. He had his own agenda.”

With regard to the charge facing the prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki, who succeeded her in the Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, that she did not send the KINAL reports to the Parliament about the then Minister of Health Pan. Kouroumpli, the witness was clear. “The reports did not refer to a specific minister. They could not be sent to his senses immediately. They wanted a search.” In her own way, the witness did not ascribe any responsibility to Eleni Touloupaki.

Advocate Dim. Papagelopoulou: Why were you going to his office, since he was intrusive.
Ans: He was a minister and I was head of the judicial service.

To another question, the witness replied that “we didn’t wake up four prosecutors one morning to report Papagelopoulos…”.

However, especially the defense of Papagelopoulos questioned the credibility of the witness referring to her relations with the minister on trial and to a late complaint against him.

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