The office of the European Delegated Prosecutors of Athens has identified criminal responsibilities for felonies in relation to contract 717 regarding the upgrade of the signaling-telecontrol system in the Greek railway network and the omissions in its execution are linked to the tragic train accident in Tempi that lost their lives 57 people and it is estimated that its non-execution has caused damage to the Greek government and the European Union of more than 15 million euros.
After the completion of the criminal preliminary examination which was completed within a year by the European Public Prosecutor's Office, criminal proceedings were brought against 23 persons, 18 of whom are public servants, for a series of criminal acts such as fraud, infidelity, false certification, with the purpose of illegal profiteering, moral agency in fraud and false statements.
The judicial investigation was assigned to the European investigator in Greece, Christina Salappa.
According to the evidentiary material to date and after the explanations provided by the criminally controlled persons as suspects, criminal proceedings were brought against:
* 14 civil servants of ERGOSE, for fraud related to grants. Two of them are also accused of making a false statement with the purpose of obtaining an unfair advantage for another,
* 4 civil servants of the Hellenic Administrative Authority of the Operational Program for Transport Infrastructure, Environment and Sustainable Development (EYD/EP-YMEPERAA), for infidelity of funds and
* 5 legal representatives and employees of the Undertaking Consortium, for moral complicity in fraud related to the grants and moral complicity in false certification with the purpose of providing an unfair advantage to another.
The charges concern the execution of the contract for the restoration of the Signaling-Remote Control System of the Athens-Thessaloniki-Promachonas railway section, which was signed in 2014, with a time horizon of completion in 2016 - known as "Contract 717".
In 2019, a supplemental contract was signed on the same project, amending the original physical scope of contract 717. The supplemental contract provided for the construction of a completely new signaling system with new telemetry units to enable communication and data transmission between of the railway stations as well as from the railway stations to the control centres.
Both contracts were co-financed by the EU Cohesion Fund, in the framework of the program "Modernisation of Signalling-Remote Control and installation of the European Train Control System (ETCS)", with the contribution of the EU. to amount to 85%.
According to the competent public prosecutor, the evidence leads to a wrongful execution of the contract.
According to the criminal investigation, a total of 7 illegal extensions of the original contract were granted, according to the decisions of the ERGOSE Board of Directors. For this reason, more than nine years after the signing of Convention 717, the project was still not completed.
Based on the data of the investigation, it is assumed by the competent authorities that the employees of the Administrative Authority, which was responsible for the management of the funds, acted in violation of the principles of sound management of these assets.
In the opinion of the prosecutors, despite the fact that the data submitted by the employees of ERGOSE were manifestly incorrect and incomplete, the civil servants of the Administrative Authority approved the granting of the corresponding aids, causing damage to the financial interests of the EU. and the Greek State in the amount of more than 15,6 million euros.
For this reason, the European Public Prosecutor's Office forwarded to the competent Greek prosecutor a copy of the case file in order to investigate the possible performance of the act of breach of duty by the Inspectors-Controllers of the Hellenic National Transparency Authority (NAT) of Greece, who were assigned by the national Prosecution Authorities conducting an audit regarding the execution of Convention 717.
The European Public Prosecutor's Office decided to refer this new case to the competent Greek authorities, for their own further legal actions, as the facts that are the subject of this new investigation do not constitute a criminal offense under the competence of the EPPO.
It is recalled that the European Public Prosecutor's Office, based on the law and the Constitution, since last summer had forwarded to the Parliament a case file regarding political figures.
Source: protothema.gr