Giorgos Voulgarakis

Giorgos Voulgarakis ( Greek Γιώργος Βουλγαράκης , born June 4, 1959 in Heraklion , Crete ) is a Greek politician . As a minister in several departments, he was involved in a number of political scandals.

Career

Voulgarakis studied economics at the Universities of Piraeus and Athens . As a student he joined the Nea Dimokratia (ND) party and was active in their student association.

In 1989 he was elected to the Greek parliament for the first time and was from December 1992 to October 1993 under Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis State Secretary for the Environment, Regional Planning and Public Works.

From March 2004 to February 2006 he was a member of Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis' cabinet as Minister for Public Order and, after a cabinet reshuffle, from February 2006 to September 2007 as Minister of Culture.

On May 30, 2006, the house of Voulgarakis was bombed by the left-wing extremist group Epanastatikos Agonas (“Revolutionary Struggle”), but it only caused property damage.

After the election success of the Nea Dimokratia in the parliamentary elections in September 2007, Voulgarakis was appointed Minister for the Merchant Navy.

On September 12, 2008, Voulgarakis resigned from this government office after the media picked up on his involvement in a number of political scandals.

Affairs and scandals

When the telephones of numerous politicians - including the Prime Minister - were tapped in the 2004 Olympic year , Voulgarakis, as Interior Minister, was the chief employer of the police and the secret service. After the evidence accumulated that services from the USA were behind the action, the case was filed under his responsibility. Against his better judgment, Voulgarakis denied any involvement by Greek authorities in the kidnapping of Pakistani immigrants in Athens and their interrogation by the British foreign secret service. Both scandals led to his being transferred from the position of Minister of the Interior to the quieter post of Minister of Culture and, after the elections in September 2007, to the post of Minister of Commerce.

As Minister of the Navy for Trade, Voulgarakis, contrary to a ban on activities for parliamentarians, drove a lively trade in real estate through several off-shore companies held in association with his wife.

The main reason for the resignation of the minister on September 12th, 2008 was the involvement of the Voulgarakis family in the sale of a number of public properties to the monastery of Vatopedi on the "holy mountain" of Athos . In these real estate deals, the Greek state is said to have been damaged by an estimated 100 million euros. Voulgarakis 'father-in-law acted as the monks' lawyer, while his daughter, the minister's wife, also acted as a notary on at least one property sale. After these events became known, the opposition and the media raised allegations of corruption.

Voulgarakis is facing criminal charges on charges of tax evasion . He is said to have concealed in his declaration of assets that his wife is the co-owner of the account of an offshore company with a credit balance of 117,000 euros.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Biography on the homepage of the Greek Parliament ( memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  
2. ↑ Cabinet list (Greek) ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Cabinet list (Greek) ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Cabinet list (Greek) ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ Spiegel-online from May 30, 2006
6. ↑ Cabinet list (Greek) ( Memento of the original dated November 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ "Hellasgate"
8. ↑ Heike Schrader in Telepolis of September 15, 2008: "Greek Government: Scandals and Peasant Victims" , Kurier of September 17, 2008: "Corruption Scandals in Greece" ( Memento of September 18, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), Gerd Höhler in Tagesspiegel.de of September 17, 2008: "Greek government sinks into the corruption swamp" , Kathimerini of September 17, 2008: "Land deals stirring controversy" (English)
9. ↑ Greece newspaper of April 24, 2013, p. 4

Web links

• Homepage of Voulgarakis