“The majority leads the operation of the committee to a dead end and we refuse to participate in methods of concealing the truth” declared the MPs of PASOK-Movement for Change, who participate in the commission.

In their statement, Ms. M. Apostolaki and Mr. A. Panas and Mr. G. Nikitiadis stated the following:

“Respecting the memory of the 57 dead from the tragic crime of Tempe and the pain of their families, as well as the search for the causes that caused the accident, should be the sole guiding principle of the Parliament’s Investigative Committee. On the contrary, the course of the committee with the sole responsibility of the majority so far is in a completely opposite direction.

The way in which the meetings of the Commission of Inquiry have developed so far since November 23, 2023, the content and style of the confrontation on the part of the representatives of the governing majority and the methodical exclusion of critical persons from witnesses sadly vindicates our initial position.

Our position is known: From the outset we proposed the establishment of a Special Parliamentary Committee to carry out a preliminary examination, which, after the European Prosecutor’s report was transmitted to the Parliament, would investigate whether former ministers in the exercise of their duties committed criminal offenses so that, in this case , the Parliament competent to bring prosecutions.

The acceptance of the KKE’s proposal for the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry by the New Democracy and everything that has followed since then proves that it was malicious.

We have warned that the direction of the Commission of Inquiry and the abusive exercise of the rights of the governing majority leads to a methodical cover-up of the real causes of the crime.

The recent meetings and the treatment of important witnesses have been revealing as to the intentions of the majority. The appearance of the former minister Mr. Karamanlp in the committee almost as an accuser, the acceptance by the bureau of the request of the witness Ms. Rogaku, deputy director of the National Transparency Authority, to answer our questions with a memorandum the next day and the late summoning of Mr. Agorastos, with the result that behind his status as a defendant he did not answer whose orders he was carrying out when they were setting up the scene of the crime, highlight the method of cover-up.

The speaker of the majority today announced the end of the work of the committee, once again refusing to consent to the calling to the committee of essential witnesses whose testimony would contribute to the disclosure of the truth and whom we have repeatedly proposed together with other parties of the opposition.

It has now become absolutely clear from the course of the committee’s meetings that the governing majority uses its numerical superiority abusively with the sole purpose of not investigating any criminal responsibilities that may be borne by persons connected to it, but even the subjective political responsibilities.

If the purpose of the Commission of Inquiry is to investigate the truth for the justice of the victims and their families and also to prevent another such tragedy in the future, we should all act as advocates of the truth and not as defenders of an overt attempt to hide and cover up responsibilities.

We have emphasized in every direction from the first moment that such practices will not be tolerated by us.

We refuse to condone this practice. The majority is driving the committee’s work to a dead end, and we refuse to engage in methods of concealing the truth.

In the name of both the memory of the victims and the administration of justice, our institutional responsibility and above all our conscience dictate that we withdraw from the Commission of Inquiry denouncing this blatant attempt at a methodical cover-up.”