Parliament summons Anti-Money Laundering chief regarding Petsitis

Deputy Parliament Speaker Tasia Christodoulopoulou (SYRIZA) has announced that she consents to summoning Anti-Money Laundering Authority Chief Anna Zairi and the head of the Authority's investigation of the DEPA-ELFE (Hellenic Fertilizers and Chemicals) affair, who resigned in the middle of the probe, to appear before the Parliamentary Committee on Transparency.

Main opposition New Democracy, which has been hammering the government over the affair for months, demanded that the two be summoned to testify before Parliament.

"This is an electoral period and whether this is a scandal or an effort to offset other scandals the matter must be investigated," Christodoulopoulou said.

"I am approving [New Democracy's] request to show that we are not afraid of press reports," she declared.

The name of the investigator has not been made public but the resignation has stirred suspicions of an effort to obstruct the probe.

The case involves 120mn euros in debt of businessman Lavrentis Lavrentiadis' ELFE to Greece's Public Gas Corporation (DEPA).

Lavrentiadis has been convicted in the scandal of his Proton Bank, which issued hundreds of millions in loans without proper guarantees, much of which was given to companies owned by Lavrentiadis.

Petsitis-Pappas-Lavrentiadis Triangle

Petsitis was employed by Lavrentiadis and at the same time apparently used his close ties to his old schoolmate Digital Policy Minister Nikos Pappas and played a role in the securing extraordinarily favourable terms for the payment of that debt in a manner that benefited Lavrentiadis.

In December, Energy Minister Yorgos Stathakis told Parliament that New Democracy was responsible for the huge debt to DEPA accrued on its watch, as the...