Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is taking actions to prohibit the appointment of wives, husbands and relatives up to second degree on all government positions where it is possible to employ part-time civil servants. Samaras has already sent the necessary notice to the General Secretariat of the Government, so that next week the opportunities for legitimizing the restrictions, which will apply to the procedure of part-time civil servants appointment, to be examined in details.
The prime minister was forced to make this move after another case of appointment of a relative of the first deputy speaker of parliament Yiannis Tragakis, who appointed as a part-time employee in the office the sister of his son-in-law, who himself also appears to have been a staff member of the parliament some years ago.
The "factory" for appointments of family members, and this in times of crisis, led by Yiannis Tragakis and many others, including former chairmen of the parliament Viron Polidoras and Filippos Petsalnikos, and many others, who over the years have taken care for their broad family circle to get as many salaries from the treasury as possible, caused an unprecedented scandal inside and outside the parliament.
The "Tragakis" case
The first Deputy Speaker of Parliament, who is now one of the oldest parliamentarians with over 30 years of experience in the National Assembly, appointed in August 2004 as a part-time employee his daughter Argiro (who has worked in his office since 1992), and who later became a full-time employee thanks to the legal act, proposed by Dimitris Sioufas and passed by the parliament in 2008.
According to aides of Tragakis, his son has never been appointed in the parliament, something which, however, does not apply to his wife Ezmi Kroustali-Tragaki, appointed as a part-time employee as a lawyer in the parliament (each party has appointed an attorney), in order to prepare the materials for the commission of inquiry on the case of the Russian defence systems TOR M1 (chairman of the same committee is Yiannis Tragakis).
Then she meets Yiannis Tragakis's son to whom she later marries. Subsequently, she also becomes a staff member thanks to the "Sioufas" law.
The appointments of the Tragakis family members continue. In the 381st issue of the Official Gazette of 07.08.2012, a message is posted, which makes it clear that Yiannis Tragakis has appointed four part-time employees, one of whom was Kaliopi Leondi, a relative of his, namely his son-in-law's sister. Meanwhile, it becomes clear that his son-in-law himself (the husband of his daughter), has also been arranged for a post in the parliament.
According to sources, Anastasios Leondis was appointed in the late 1980s in the TV channel in Piraeus, where in 2004 he was transferred to the television channel of the parliament and then, again due to the "Sioufas" law, he also became a staff member.
In short, Yiannis Tragakis has arranged for his whole family.
Last night he tried to justify in a statement the non-justifiable kinship appointments, citing their formal legality, but did not mention, however, whether the legal is also moral.
Tragakis stressed that "the lack up to now of a legal basis for the appointment of part-time employees, has given deputies the opportunity to choose their employees based on criteria such as credibility and effectiveness. From the moment the government has decided to impose certain rules in this process, a practice, which justifiably or not, has caused many disputes, will stop."
Viron Polidoras managed to appoint his daughter for 48 hours, as lasted his term as a chairman of the parliament
Yiannis Tragakis's case is not unique in the Greek Parliament. For example, Viron Polidoras within 48 hours, as lasted his actual term as a chairman of the parliament (after the first election, because after the revote Evangelos Meimarakis was elected) "managed" to appoint as a part-time employee in his office his daughter Margarita, and also approved the scandalous allowance in connection with the elections for officials in parliament in the amount of 1,000 euro.
The same thing happened with the former chairman of the parliament Filippos Petsalnikos, who appointed as a part-time employee the fiancée of his nephew and son of his cousin Konstantinos Petsalnikos, who served as a mayor of Makednon municipality.
The legal act of Dimitris Sioufas, passed by the parliament in 2008 and operated until 2010, was like manna from heaven for dozens of part-time officers of the National Assembly, who, thanks to it, have become permanent employers.
The "Sioufas" act has allowed all part-time employees or seconded in the offices of the parliamentary parties, the former prime ministers, the deputy prime ministers, the chairman of the parliament and other officials, assigned up to the 2009 elections, to become permanent employers.
The "Sioufas" act
The legal act of Dimitris Sioufas caused quite a stir as early as its proposal and voting, as many called it a cross-party swag, but lawmakers ignored the protests, which was the reason for its application until 2010.
Indicative cases of part-time employed relatives, who became staff members then, thanks to the "Sioufas" act, are the appointment of his own daughter, of his brother-in-law, of his son's best man, and of the niece of the former deputy chairman of the parliament Vaitsis Apostolatou, of the niece of deputy Elsa Papadimitriou, of the daughter of former Foreign Minister Petros Moliviatis and of the daughter of Theodoros Pangalos, who, however, subsequently resigned.
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