Hellenic Train CEO Maurizio Capotorto will be charged with perjury by prosecutors after he testified about the Tempι train accident during a parliamentary inquiry.
Maurizio Capotorto, an Italian citizen, testified last week that responsibility for the derailments and accidents lies with those in charge of the railway infrastructure, that is, the Greek Railways Organization (O.S.E.) and, in particular, the station manager.
Some lawmakers said the station manager had health problems. When asked by the head of the committee about the problems, Capotorto replied that he “is not aware of any statistics on this issue.”
The prosecutors’ investigation was launched at the request of lawmakers because they noted that the CEO lied in parts of his testimony and left other parts unclear. MPs from the main opposition SYRIZA called his testimony “offensive and giving rise to suspicion of perjury” and noted that “Although it is clear that the automatic security systems did not work, he argued that they simply did not function.”
“For this reason, we proposed to send his testimony to the prosecutor’s office of the Court of Appeal, which all parties, including the ruling majority, agreed to,” – the statement says. Member of the ruling party “New Democracy” Lazaros Tsavdaridis said Capotorto’s comment was offensive, adding that the general manager did not apologize and placed all the blame on the station manager.
Hellenic Train is under scrutiny for failings that led to the country’s deadliest train collision, but OSE subsidiaries are also under investigation.
On Monday, 15 employees of ERGOSE, the OSE subsidiary responsible for the construction and maintenance of railway infrastructure, appeared before the appeals prosecutor’s office in Larissa, central Greece. According to state broadcaster ERT, among them are managers and board members of ERGOSE.
They are accused, in particular, of repeated disregard for transportation safety standards, as well as offenses resulting in manslaughter and causing grievous bodily harm.
Earlier it became known that the Greek government rejected the European prosecutor’s callA take action regarding possible criminal liability of two former transport ministers following the deadly train collision that rocked the country last February.
In a letter sent by EPPO prosecutor Popi Papandreou to Greek authorities on June 2 and obtained by POLITICO, she noted that during the investigation into the disaster, “suspicions arose regarding alleged criminal offenses committed by former members of the Greek government.”
“These alleged criminal offenses relate to breach of duty committed by former Minister Christos Spyrtzis and embezzlement committed by former Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis, Papandreou wrote in the document. – We ask you to take your own measures.”.
The demand to take action against the two former ministers is based on a feature of Greek law under which only parliament can investigate allegations of misconduct against former ministers. However, the Greek government buried the case politically, using its parliamentary majority to reject the need for an investigative committee. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis initially blamed “tragic human error”but was forced to back down after he was accused of trying to cover up the government’s role.
EPPO believes that the Greek constitutional quirk that only parliament can bring cases against ministers is contrary to law EU and contacted the European Commission.
PS We don’t hand over our own, we’ll hand over someone else’s…
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