Costas Simitis

Former socialist minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos’ trial for defense procurements and money-laundering began again on Wednesday following an adjournment last month. Former socialist PASOK prime minister Costas Simitis and the current socialist PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos to the stand to testify ahead of the five-membered Felony Appeal Court.

Former Prime Minister Costas Simitis and current PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos are due to be among the witnesses to take to the stand on Wednesday in the appeal of ex-Defense Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos against his sentence for money laundering.

Former socialist ministers Vasso Papandreou and Yiannos Papantoniou are due to testify on May 20.

An Athens court hearing the appeal of ex-Defense Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos against his prison term for money laundering has accepted the former PASOK veteran?s request for the members of the Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defense (KYSEA) from 1998 to 1999 to be called as witnesses.

A prosecutor recommended on Wednesday that the Athens court hearing the appeal of ex-Defense Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos against his prison term for money laundering should accept the former PASOK veteran?s request for the members of the Government Council for Foreign Affairs and Defense (KYSEA) from 1998 to 1999 to be called as witnesses.

Less than 50 of Parliament?s 300 deputies refused the privilege of a complimentary car that they are entitled to as elected MPs but which Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had exhorted them to reject during his presentation of the government?s policy program.

A total of 64 people were referred to trial by the Judicial Council of the Court of Appeal for their alleged participation in the corruptions and bribery scandal that broke out in Greece almost seven years ago, over deals between Siemens AG and Greek state-owned telecommunications company, OTE.

Ex-prime minister Costas Simitis and current PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos, both witnesses in the appeal of ex-Defense Minister Akis Tsochatzopoulos against his prison term for money laundering, will give their testimonies on May 13, an Athens court ruled Wednesday.

Former Prime Minister Costas Simitis has called on Greece?s political parties to find a way to cooperate after the elections, warning that the country would be absent from the debate that will shape the European Union otherwise.

The junior coalition partner PASOK rejected over the weekend a proposal by the party’s former leader and ex-premier George Papandreou for the party to call an emergency congress and a subsequent leadership election, warning against “miserable navel-gazing” that risks fuelling “uncertainty and instability.”

Former Prime Minister Costas Simitis on Friday backed PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos’s proposal to create a new center-left party with the Socialists at its heart.