To the Parliament, in order to decide whether the two former Ministers of Transport, Christos Spirtzis and Kostas Ax.Karamanlis, should be investigated for possible responsibilities, the Greek office of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office forwards the case file it has prepared for contract 717 of ERGOSE regarding signaling and remote control projects of the of trains, pending for a number of years.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), through its Greek department, is conducting an investigation into the management of the funds given for the project, jointly funded by the European Union and the Greek State, which had started several months before fatal accident in Tempe. The purpose of the investigation is to establish whether the non-implementation of the project results in the responsibilities of politicians and non-persons for the way they have managed EU funds for the modernization of the railway network and transport.

The contract in question was signed in 2014, with the project contractors undertaking to deliver within 2 years. The project concerned the overall upgrade of the infrastructure with signaling throughout the network and the operation of remote control for real-time monitoring of routes, and its execution was a key condition for the subsequent awarding of the ETCS (European Train Control System) installation project. for safety in passenger and commercial transport.

However, a network of issues, including the disputes and finally the “divorce” of the partners of the consortium that had undertaken the execution of the project, led to long delays in its execution and completion, while a total of seven extensions were given. The case was the subject of an audit by the competent bodies of the Commission and the Financial Audit Committee (EDEL) and now also by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The EPPO investigation into the case continues for all non-political persons who have been involved in these nine years with the “717” case.