By Ioanna Mandrou

In favor of the dismissal of the prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki but also of the former minister Dimitris Papagelopoulou regarding the charges of abuse of power they face, the prosecutor agreed in her proposal of the Special Court Olga Smyrlisarguing that no evidence of guilt emerged for the prosecuting official, but neither for the former minister.
The charge against the prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki concerned her failure to send to Parliament reports submitted by KINAL for two former ministers of health under the SYRIZA government, Pan. Kouroumplis and Andreas Xanthos regarding the invoicing of medicines.

According to Mrs. Smyrlis, the omission attributed to the prosecutor Eleni Touloupaki is not documented, and for this reason he proposed her dismissal as well as the dismissal of the former minister Dimitris Papagelopoulouwho is on trial as a moral perpetrator for abuse of power by Eleni Touloupaki.

“I suggest, was the conclusion of the prosecutor’s proposal, the acquittal of both, Eleni Touloupaki for the crime of abuse of power and Dimitris Papaggelopoulos for moral complicity in the same crime.”

According to Ms. Smyrlis, even if there was a change in the charge to breach of duty, her proposal would still be exculpatory for both.
According to the indictment, Mrs. Touloupaki’s omission had the effect of depriving the Parliament of its competence to check the allegations made by KINAL against the two former Ministers of Health.
In particular, according to the prosecutor’s proposal, Mrs. Touloupaki did not commit the offense of abuse of power, primarily because the KINAL reports against Kouroumplis and Xanthos had not been a separate case file and had been incorporated as documents into the large case file for the Novartis case. As Mrs. Smyrli pointed out, they were not forwarded to the Parliament, not even when they were received, before Eleni Touloupaki, by her predecessor Eleni Raikou who had been the head of the Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
In addition, according to the prosecutor, the KINAL reports were unclear, without documentation and without evidence, which would substantiate the allegations that it was not made during the ministry of Pan. Fraudulent drug pricing.

The trial of the public prosecutor continues for the charge of breach of duty against the former minister Dimitris Papagelopoulos regarding the complaints of three public prosecutors for interference in their work.
With the prosecutor’s proposal for the Touloupaki-Papaggelopoulos case, the lawyer of Eleni Touloupaki, Yiannis Mantzouranis, notes in his statement.

Statement by Yannis Mantzouranis

With today’s Proposal of the Deputy Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Mr. Olga Smyrlis, for the complete exoneration of the Deputy Prosecutor of the Appeals, Mrs. Eleni Touloupaki, from the flimsy accusations against her, Justice is finally delivered.
It turns out that the criminal prosecution of Mrs. E. Touloupaki was not only baseless and unjustified in every respect. But also a sign of empathy and malice of a political faction, which tries to impose a regime of silence, obedience and fear even on the independent Justice.
It also proves that there are Prosecutors “in Athens”, who do not succumb to pressure from the known “untouchables” of the economy and politics, do not seek the praise of the systemic mass media and are not afraid of attacks from them. The Deputy Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Ms. Olga Smyrli, proved that she is determined to defend the independence of judges and prosecutors, who in order to be impartial and objective must feel and be safe against the attacks of the powerful money and politics, when they ex officio control their acts and omissions.