Editorial To Vima: The incorruptible of SYRIZA and Petsitis

If there were a case similar to that of Manolis Petsitis involving top opposition politicians, SYRIZA would have caused an uproar over the corrupt political system which rules us.

Today, there is no problem and if one is to believe the government spokesman it is all fake news. That is now the official line of the PM’s office in response to any charge, even if it is serious and backed by evidence.

Such machinations and cover-up efforts will not sway anyone. Every day one sees more evidence regarding Petsitis’ interactions with a top minister, the ease with which he came in and out of the PM’s Maximos Mansion offices, and how he presented himself as the representative of the PM’s office in facilitating all types of arrangements.

It emerged that the handling of the case of the DEPA [Public Gas Corporation]-Lavrentiadis scandal, in which – according to public charges of former DEPA CEO Theodoros Kitsakos – Petsitis excelled in the role of middleman, was tolerated and supported by many ministers.

The poor boy from the working class neighbourhood of Kaisariani ended up with a luxury lifestyle, even today, which is hard to explain.

Petsitis was the inseparable comrade of Digital Policy Minister Nikos Pappas (considered by many to be PM Alexis Tsipras’ alter-ego) who today is feverishly distancing himself from his old schoolmate in order to eschew his responsibilities.

Pappas’ expansive remit also includes the issuance of television and radio licenses.

SYRIZA swept to power on a clean hands platform and had no compunction about targeting its political opponents by any means possible. It cannot now depict itself as something out of the age of innocence.

Authorities must get to the bottom of this case as soon as possible. There have been events and actions that provoke, as much as one my try to paper over them.

The decision to summon to Parliament’s Transparency Committee the chief of the Independent Anti-Money Laundering Authority and the employee who was handling the case and resigned (under pressure according to some reports), is a step toward revealing the truth.

It is the least that could be done by a government which engaged in mudslinging like no other, and an opportunity to prove that it did not do even worse things than those about which it had lambasted its opponents while in the opposition.