Nikos Pappas to the Special Court: Political case and my prosecution is political

By Ioanna Mandrou

“For a political case” and “political prosecution” the former Minister of State under the SYRIZA government, Nikos Pappas, speaks in his statement before the hearing – proposal of Prosecutor Olga Smyrlis before the Special Court.

The former minister, who is on trial for breach of duty with businessman Christos Kalogritsa as a co-accused in the case of the television license tender, in his statement states, among other things.

“I consider it my duty to present before you my assessment. My position on this case is clear from the beginning. It is a political case and I deal with it politically.

As soon as it was born, it became obvious that this case was and is an attempt by my political opponents to hurt me personally as well as the Party to which I belong. This position of mine has been emphatically confirmed.

I was even accused by my political opponents of bribery in a tender that I ensured brought the Greek State hundreds of millions of euros, when the previous governments did not receive any amount for a public good. And for the first time in Parliamentary History, my political persecutors were forced to withdraw the said dishonorable charge, which they themselves fabricated.”

The statement of Nikos Pappas in detail

Ladies and Gentlemen Judges,

The procedure before you is completed in a short time and with many paradoxes.

It is the first time in Greek parliamentary history that a Special Court, made up of 21 Supreme Court Justices and Prosecutors, was set up to try a misdemeanor case.

It is the first time that a Special Court adjudicates the actions of a Minister that not only did not cause financial damage to the Greek State but much more brought hundreds of millions of euros to it,

It is the first time that the defendant is someone whose actions decisively contributed to the collection of hundreds of millions of euros by the Greek State, and not those who were inactive in previous years to collect,

It is the first time that the accused is someone who with his actions decisively contributed to the implementation of the Constitution and legality and not those who were inactive in the previous years to implement it,

It is the first time that a Special Court is called upon to decide whether the collection for the Greek State of hundreds of millions of euros and the application of legality was or were done in an illegal manner.

However, the paradoxes and contradictions do not stop here.

Firstly. The present case started with a Complaint by my co-accused, who maintains his innocence but at the same time the “truth” of his allegations, which made him an accused.

Secondly. My co-accused’s lawyer, who is supposed to defend his client’s innocence, is a member of Parliament. At the same time, however, the same member of Parliament has voted in the Greek Parliament in favor of prosecuting me and, as a result, his client as well. My prosecutor is fighting for the innocence of my co-accused. Being and remaining my political opponent.

And thirdly, my initially plaintiff and my co-accused in Your Court claims that he was wronged, while at the same time our political opponents and my persecutors as well as the accusation against me make the claim that he was favored. It goes without saying that both cannot be true.

The proceedings before you were short. Most of the witnesses completed their statements in a very short time.

Under the burden of testifying under oath before your Court, others have moderated their testimony or even reversed what they had written and said publicly.

Still others testified that they cannot prove my own illegal involvement, or even more testified that they have no knowledge of my own intervention in favor of my co-accused.

Ladies and Gentlemen Judges,

I consider it my duty to lay before you my assessment. My position on this case is clear from the beginning. It is a political case and I deal with it politically.

As soon as it was born, it became obvious that this case was and is an attempt by my political opponents to hurt me personally as well as the Party to which I belong. This position of mine has been emphatically confirmed.

I was even accused by my political opponents of bribery in a tender that I ensured brought the Greek State hundreds of millions of euros, when the previous governments did not receive any amount for a public good. And for the first time in Parliamentary History, my political persecutors were forced to withdraw the said dishonorable accusation, which they themselves fabricated.

Already from the stage of the Pre-Investigation Committee of the Parliament, my political opponents tried to take advantage of the testimonies of the witnesses, by using their excerpts and distorting their content, so that with the help of the few friendly mass media they could slander me and to serve their petty political pursuits.

You, ladies and gentlemen, were witnesses of this effort individually, as well as you. Throughout the trial before Your Court, You found the distortions, which existed in a large part of the media, of what was done and what was said before You, but also the readiness of my political opponents and persecutors for this. Before the examination of the witnesses was even completed, as if they had been ready for a long time, they issued announcements, even through the Government Representative, containing the distortions of the witnesses’ statements as well as the armed late statements of other and/or the same witnesses.

Unfortunately, the Justice was instrumentalized by my political opponents already at the stage of the Pre-Investigation Committee and its instrumentalization continued and continues with an increase in the present trial as well. It is now self-evident that their pursuit was and is to serve their micro-political expedients, the creation of political confrontation and the disorientation of public opinion from the real political and legal scandals that dominate and the creation of false political offsets to them, and indeed in a pre-election period.

I refused to participate in this instrumentalization of Justice from the beginning. My presence before the Special Court was the political dream and the dominant pursuit of my political persecutors. Because my presence before You would legitimize their petty political effort. Thus, ladies and gentlemen, my non-physical presence before you, although it is my right, does not constitute nor is it due to a lack of respect and much more does it not constitute contempt for you.

On the contrary, it is the proof of my respect, first of all, to you and to the institution of Justice itself. Possibly, with my physical presence, some people would have gained a few more minutes of publicity. However, it would not serve the truth and the smooth conduct of the trial.

Given all the above, you are invited to decide. And indeed in the light of the above provocative attempt to politically instrumentalize the present trial. However, I am absolutely certain that in a purely political trial you will decide purely legally. I am absolutely certain that, just as my political opponents have legalized political life, You will legalize political life.

You are invited to rule on a case in which the public for the first time collected money that it should have collected from 1989 onwards. He did not spend money as happened in the cases of NOVARTIS and SIEMENS. No unspecified amounts were found on me, my name was not lost in translation.

Ladies and Gentlemen Judges,

I have done my duty. I defended the public interest. The State was anything but damaged in the case, for which you are judging. The Government of which I had the honor to be a member fought a titanic battle and enforced the observance of the Constitution. A battle that had never been fought since 1989.

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