Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos and consequently the SYRIZA-led coalition government have come under fire following media reports that the minister had contacts with a convict in the drug-smuggling case known as Noor 1. Opposition parties claim “the minister tried to intervene in the work of justice.” Media claim the minister tried to convince the convict to testify against a well-known shipowner, who is also owner of a football club and a media group. The Minister allegedly tried to convince a convict to testify against the businessman thus promising him preferential treatment in prison. Panos Kammenos is leader of nationalist Independent Greeks and Tsipras’ junior coalition partner.
In June 2014, Togo-flagged cargo ship Noor 1 was discovered to have smuggled more than 2 tones of heroin. The cargo was captured near the port of Elefsina in western Attica.
Now opposition parties New Democracy and PASOK filed questions to the Greek parliament asking the Justice Minister to reply to allegations.
Several media ToVima.gr, To Karfi and others started to report and leak audio of an alleged telephone conversation between Defense Minister Panos Kammenos and Makis Yiannousakis, a former shipowner who is currently serving life in prison in connection with the Noor 1 heroin smuggling case.
“In the conversation, Kammenos allegedly asked Yiannousakis to testify against a particular businessman in exchange for support from the government so that he would receive preferential treatment,” writes daily Kathimerini and adds:
Kammenos reacted to the reports saying that Yiannousakis had – through the mediation of journalist Makis Triantafyllopoulos [owner of news website zougla.gr]– asked for judicial protection in order to give evidence in connection with the case.
“As it was my duty to do, I immediately informed the prosecutor and the responsible minister,” Kammenos said.
Conservative New Democracy submitted a question in Parliament asking Justice Minister Stavros Kontonis whether he was aware of Kammenos’s “unacceptable intervention” in the work of justice. PASOK socialists submitted a similar question, also asking whether the conversation between the minister and the inmate took place with the knowledge of the Prison Council.
Responding in Parliament on Monday, Kontonis vowed that authorities will check for any violations of standard procedure. “Interventions of this sort will neither obstruct justice nor stop the government from seeing the issue to the end,” he said.
Yiannousakis was found guilty of participating in the smuggling of more than 2 tons of heroin into Greece aboard the Noor 1 cargo ship in 2014.
