Political storm after the complaints and the expulsion of Patsis from the ND

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The chronicle of the deletion of Andreas Patsis and the “collateral” losses – The complaints about the activity of the Grevena MP and the explanations that did not convince

By Penelope Galliou

The case of expelled ND MP Andreas Patsis is expected to go the way of the Parliamentary No Matters Committee, if SYRIZA’s request for its convening is accepted, following Koumundourou’s complaints against the Grevena MP, regarding his participation in extra-urban activities companies, which were allegedly buying bad loans.

The tangle of the dismissal of Grevena MP Andreas Patsis began to unravel rapidly from the moment the Maximos Palace asked for explanations and even according to government sources, written explanations, in order to prove with “documents” the “purity” of his position, and this is appreciated as a result it was not possible.

In the announcement of the Prime Minister’s Press Office, it is stated that “The explanations of MP Andreas Patsis for his professional activities, which are not consistent with the status of MP and the principles of New Democracy, were not considered sufficient.

Following this, by decision of the Prime Minister, he is removed from the ND Parliamentary Group”.

Shortly before the announcement of the deletion of MP Patsis, and having passed the public discussion, apart from the legality of the actions of the Grevena MP and the moral dimension, the government representative speaking to SKAI stated that “We are absolutely sensitive to what has to do with the issues of conduct, morals, of the leaders of our party, whether they are parliamentary leaders or anything else” picturing the expulsion of the MP if his explanations were not sufficient.

K. Pierrakakis is also in the cadre of SYRIZA

SYRIZA, which denounced the case, after the removal of Patsis, issued a statement in which it spoke of looting of public money, putting the Minister of Digital Governance Kyriakos Pierrakakis in the frame of the case and requesting the dismissal of the Minister for legal services contracts of the blue MP with ELTA. “Mr. Patsis is not only getting rich from bad loans that he bought at 1/15 of their value for 4.3 million euros, which he cannot justify from where he is related, but he appears to have collected through direct assignments in two years from Mr. Pierrakakis, through ELTA, more than 1 million euros for legal advice” complained the press representative of SYRIZA Nasos Iliopoulos.

The developments at ELTA

Complaints for which competent sources of the Ministry of Digital Governance reminded that ELTA SA is not under the supervision of the ministry, but has been owned by the Superfund for several years.

On the occasion of an announcement by SYRIZA, however, regarding fees given by the Hellenic Post Office to MP Andreas Patsis for legal services, the CEO of ELTA Giorgos Konstantopoulos submitted his resignation for reasons of integrity to the CEO of EESYP S.A., Grigori Dimitriadis, while ELTA issued a statement stating that:

“The Hellenic Post Office has concluded a cooperation agreement with the international Law Firm DLA Piper UK LLP, for their representation in the European institutions and in particular in the Commission and DG Comp. The cooperation with the International Law Firm, which has great experience and expertise in the above matters, became necessary due to the need for systematic support of ELTA in specialized matters of European Law, Competition, Catholic Services, etc. which resulted from the start of implementation of the Company’s transformation actions in 2021”.

Then, after mentioning the cases undertaken by the company in question, it is noted that all payment decisions have been posted on the Internet “Transparency Program” and it is emphasized:

“Consequently, there is no question of independent fees of the Hellenic Post to Mr. Patsis, legal representative of DLA Piper in Greece. Any remuneration of his is determined by the context and conditions of his cooperation with the Law Firm, is paid by it, and of course not by its respective client” is pointed out in the announcement of ELTA.

What does MP Patsis say?

Andreas Patsis himself, however, insisted that there is nothing wrong and declared that he will keep his seat as an independent member of parliament. In fact, with his post on Facebook, he referred to his voters in Grevena, stressing: “Dear men and women of Greveni, I remain your Member of Parliament, Independent. Until the last moment I will be the Andreas you know. Thank you very much” concluded.

In the Pothen Esshes committee, the continuation

After the developments, SYRIZA filed a request to convene the Pothen Esshes Committee “for the illegal and unethical practices of the former member of parliament of Grevena of the ND Andreas Patsis”, as it states, citing in the said request the relevant articles of the Pothen Esshes Law, that “… .the MPs … are prohibited from participating in the management or capital of companies that have their actual or statutory headquarters abroad, either in person or through proxy persons” and after mentioning the companies in which the ousted ND MP Andreas Patsis allegedly participated, the request concludes: ” This fact, namely the participation of Mr. Andreas Patsis in the capital of the above foreign companies, it emerges and is proven without a doubt also from the no. D 1112 -5719-7397-1102-6554-9 Statement of Non-Accounts that he has submitted for the year 2020, which has been posted on the official website of the Hellenic Parliament”.

Fire also from the minor opposition

Fire on the Patsis case was unleashed on the government and the minor opposition parties, with PASOK – KINAL speaking of establishment and clientelistic perceptions of the ND in the exercise of power, while the KKE stated in its statement that “no deletion can absolve the government from her enormous responsibilities, not only because the ND party was obviously aware of the activity of her deputy, but above all because this activity is the product of a criminal policy that has legalized profiteering and auctions.

“According to the favorite tactics, the N.D. deleted the MP of Andreas Patsis from the Parliamentary Group, but not from the party of which he remains a member,” Hellenic Solution said in a statement, while MeRA 25 cited government involvement as the reason.

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