Under cover of the pandemic, Greece’s right-wing government has passed a slew of new measures to benefit the wealthy at the expense of workers, while massively expanding police powers. On the back of a decade of austerity, the latest laws are set to transform the country into a client state and playground for foreign tourists.
by Matthaios Tsimitakis/Mihalis Panayiotakis
Part 6 - A Government Mired in Corruption and Scandals
As society is kept on edge, a flurry of scandals is only adding to the sense of discontent, of which we state but a few:
Imprisoned refugees are dying from preventable causes while others commit suicide in hellish camps that lack the basics for a bare minimum of decency. Others are being illegally pushed back in the middle of the Aegean in what looks to be now standard procedure for the Greek coast guard, according to humanitarian NGOs.
Imprisoned refugees are dying from preventable causes while others commit suicide in hellish camps that lack the basics for a bare minimum of decency. Others are being illegally pushed back in the middle of the Aegean in what looks to be now standard procedure for the Greek coast guard, according to humanitarian NGOs.
Mitsotakis’s hand-picked director of the National Theatre, Dimitris Lignadis, is in jail, accused of serial molestation of minors and sexual attacks.
A continuous stream of direct awards of government contracts in questionable circumstances taking full advantage of the pandemic emergency laws are surfacing, one after the other.
Several New Democracy officials were caught jumping the queue to be vaccinated before their legal turn.
A photojournalist for the opposition newspaper Documento was detained by police when he tried to photograph the numerous police officers that were on permanent duty guarding Menios Fourthiotis, a convicted fraudster and minor TV presenter, as well as a very pro-government newspaper publisher and media manager. Apparently provided with a taxpayer-funded armored vehicle and a guard of fourteen policemen, he seemed to be enjoying protection from politicians and businessmen at the highest levels. The guards were recalled only when the scandal surfaced.
One of the reporters who researched aspects of both the Lignadis and the Fourthiotis scandal was the late Giorgos Karaivaz, a crime and police reporter for a private national TV station who was shot and killed in cold blood outside his house a few days ago. Karaivaz had filed extensive reports on the Mafia wars in Athens and written about the links between organized crime, big business, and politicians. His death has created consternation across Europe regarding the rule of law, and questions regarding the quality of democracy.
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