The brother and sister of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras this week threatened legal action over a bevy of recent press reports claiming their construction company tried to win a state contract by submitting a forged affirmation that the company’s social insurance payments are up-to-date.
“Because over the past few days ND (the main opposition party) is mudslinging and leaking vile charges against us, through its friendly press, we would like to emphasize that libel is a civil and criminal charge; it is not justified by any opposition fury, and will be dealt with by the courts, where every law-abiding citizen can seek recourse.”
Earlier, a New Democracy spokeswoman charged that the construction firm Diodos, belonging to Dimitris and Zanet Tsipras, in 2012 tried to win a 1.1-million-euro state contract by submitted the forged document, resulting in an indictment handed down against Dimitris Tsipras in 2015.
In an even more eyebrow-raising charge, spokeswoman Maria Spyraki said a controversial law passed in 2016 – the Tsipras government’s second year in power – essentially applied a statute of limitation to the case, preventing the courts from examining the substance of the forgery charge.
Following the press reports, mostly aired by media critical of the current leftist-rightist coalition government, ND demanded “answers”, as it said, over the allegations.
