Greek General Inspector of Public Administration Leandros Rakintzis, responsible for battling corruption in the public sector, confirmed that high-profile politicians continue to benefit from concerted efforts to write-off charges of wrong-doing that allow statute of limitations to lapse before they can be prosecuted. The comment was given in response to a question asked by SYRIZA MP Thodoris Dritsas. “Have you seen high-profile politicians go to court?” he asked and described what he called his ‘complaint’ to the parliament as, “in my efforts to do something about the high-profile, I always run into a wall of exculpatory measures.” However, Rakintzis refused to bend to Dritsas’ pressure to reveal names, stressing that he was not in a legal position to do so. But he made clear that he feels that an entirely different set of rules apply for the political class elite that render prosecutions nearly impossible. Rakintzis was also revealing about NGOs and corruption in the public sector. He said that he had submitted questions to the relevant Ministry and tax offices, but they protested that they didn’t have the time to conduct audits so none ever took place. The operation of NGOs throughout the first decade of 2000s is mired in scandal. Many different development aid organizations received generous grants from the government under the Foreign Ministry’s ‘Hellenic Aid’ program but with dubious outcomes. Regarding the Greece ‘s public sector, he reminded the committee that Parliament itself had passed laws legitimizing illegal spending of state funds. He noted, however, that the dismissal of public employees found guilty of abusing their positions had been accelerated and that the new body of Public Administration Inspectors was a valuable institution, as the framework of internal audits that had existed until recently had been largely inactive.
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