In an interview on Greek newspaper “Proto Thema,” and fifteen months after his resignation, former financial prosecutor Spyros Mouzakitis claimed that his work was obstructed by government officials. He further made special reference to the loans given to political parties when he was in charge of examining such cases that did not have any collateral. He said that a law passed in January 2013 by then Justice Minister Antonis Roupakiotis, establishing the institution of a Prosecutor for Corruption Crimes, was a message to him and his colleague Grigoris Peponis, to suspend the open investigations on the grounds that they no longer came under their jurisdiction. “Put your pencils down, you are inappropriate for the job,” he was told by the Justice Minister. Mousakitis pointed out that the cases they handled were then returned to the new financial prosecutors, two months after he and Peponis resigned and a transitional ordinance was passed. Mouzakitis claimed that his job was obstructed when investigating several Greeks with accounts in a Swiss branch of HSBC that were included in the so-called “Lagarde List.” He claims he was in constant threat of disciplinary actions during his probe. He further asserted that a draft law Former Justice Minister Miltiadis Papaioannou attempted to pass, tried to abolish their posts because of specific preliminary investigations they had opened and whose findings did not have government support. The case that caused the most displeasure was that on loans taken out by political parties, since many of these were given by banks without any kind of collateral.
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