The court imposed a two-year prison sentence on former State Minister Nikos Pappas on Friday (24/02) for the the case of the 2016 TV licence tender, choosing the higher prescribed, while a fine was imposed on the businessman Christos Kalogritsa.
Specifically, the penalty for Nikos Pappas was set at two years' imprisonment suspended for three years, while Christos Kalogritsa was fined 5,000 euros. In both cases no mitigating circumstances were recognised.
At the same time, the Deputy Prosecutor requested that the minutes be sent with the statement of the secretary of Mr Kalogritsa (who referred to money going from her employer's office to SYRIZA) to the Public Prosecutor's Office in order to conduct an investigation.
The Special Court earlier declared his guilt Nikos Pappas as well as that of the businessman Christos Kalogritsa with a unanimous decision of the 13 Supreme Court judges.
Nikos Pappas guilty of misdemeanour breach of duty
President of the court Joanna Klapa announced the decision, according to which the former minister is guilty of misdemeanour breach of duty while for synergy in practice of Mr Pappas, the businessman Christos Kalogritsa was found guilty.
The Deputy Prosecutor of the Special Court Dimitris Asprogerakas proposed pone year's imprisonment for Mr Pappas on charges of misconduct in office.
The charge against the former minister concerns allegations by businessman Christos Kalogritsa that at the suggestion of Nikos Pappas took part in the tender for television licences and that in order to secure €3 million in funding it signed a fictitious - in the opinion of the trader - contract with the construction giant CCC in order to submit a letter of guarantee and take part in the tender process.
The aim, according to the accusation, was for the businessman to obtain a TV licence and for the new channel to be positively disposed towards the government of the time. The two defendants chose not to plead before the court, but their positions were developed by their defence lawyers. Nikos Pappas was not present at the trial either as he described it as «political» from the beginning.
The Prosecutor had requested the acquittal of Nikos Pappas
Today in court instead of Olga Smyrli, the prosecutor of the court, who requested the acquittal of the two defendants, The deputy prosecutor Dimitris Asprogerakas attended the hearing, as Ms Smyrli is a patient.
It is recalled that in her statement to the Special Court, the Prosecutor Olga Smyrli had stated that there is no evidence to suggest the guilt of former minister Nikos Pappas for his handling of the TV licence case.
Ms Smyrli, evaluating all the elements of the case, argued that the tender procedure for the TV licences was carried out in full transparency and in compliance with the law. She stressed that there was no intervention on the part of the Minister on trial to favour the company of Ioannis Vladimiros Kalogritsa, which participated in the tender and emerged as one of the four successful bidders.
The first reaction of Nikos Pappas
Nikos Pappas made successive posts on twitter after the conviction against him.
Among other things, it states that “the decision of the special court is in the spirit of the decisions on NOVARTIS and SIEMENS cases”.
At the same time, Pappas noted that it is absolutely clear that “this trial was political” and that “was done to hit our party and to prevent the rich from paying again.”.
📍 As with NOVARTIS and SIEMENS
The decision of the special court is in the spirit of the NOVARTIS and SIEMENS decisions. pic.twitter.com/Z3gn7kWfub
- Nikos Pappas (@nikospappas16) February 24, 2023
At the same time, he made a statement on camera, in which he said that “The Greek people, with their mandate, will bring justice everywhere”.
