Greek Prosecutors Resign Over Land Deal Probe

Prosecutors said in their resignation letter they had uncovered evidence connecting the case to deputy ministers.

Two prosecutors investigating suspect land swaps between the Greek state and a monastery resigned on Tuesday, saying their request to send the case to parliament to probe ministers' involvement had been blocked.

The conservative government, whose small parliamentary majority has been threatened by scandals, rejected their resignations and ordered them to pursue the investigation into how the wealthy Vatopedi monastery was allowed to make millions of euros from the deals.

Prosecutors Ilias Koliousis and Eleni Sotiropoulou said in their resignation letter they had uncovered evidence connecting the case to deputy ministers, whom they had no authority to investigate. The case has already prompted the resignation of one cabinet minister.

"The chief prosecutor of the Athens Appeal Court ordered us to reopen our investigation, ignoring our view there might be ... criminal responsibility of ministers," they said. "Because obeying this order means breaking legal codes, we resign."

"This case should have been submitted through the country's Supreme Court prosecutor to parliament, the only body qualified to investigate," they said.

Kyriakos Karoutsos, chief prosecutor of the Appeal Court of Athens, said in a statement late on Monday he had given the two prosecutors instructions on how to conduct a new investigation and appointed a new magistrate to oversee it.

Supreme Court Prosecutor Yiorgos Sanidas, appointed by the government two years ago, threw his support behind the decision, saying there was insufficient evidence to take the case to parliament and no proof ministers had been involved.

In a report last month, Sanidas said the government lost money in the swap, intended to resolve the monastery's land claims in north Greece, and should not have gone through with it because Vatopedi's ancient contracts were no longer valid.

MINISTER RESIGNED

The case claimed a senior government scalp when merchant marine minister George Voulgarakis, whose wife acted as an agent in the deal, resigned last month amid criticism within the ruling New Democracy party. He insisted no laws were broken.

The 1,000-year-old monastery, one of the largest in northern Greece's all-male monastic community of Mount Athos, has denied any wrongdoing. It has already sold some of the property and said it would fight in the courts any bid to overturn the deal.

Justice Minister Sotiris Hatzigakis said the government was committed to a thorough investigation and rejected the prosecutors' resignations: "We urge them not to insist on it but to continue to do their duty with independence."

The opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), which has overtaken the ruling New Democracy party in recent polls amid a series of scandals, called for Sanidas's resignation and said the case must be properly investigated by legislators.

"The government's goal is to obstruct this investigation," said Dinos Rovlias, a member of PASOK's executive committee. "There are limits, which the government has long overstepped... We will bring charges against whoever is responsible for blocking these prosecutors' investigation."