The Athens prosecutor’s office has ordered a preliminary investigation into a possible statement of means violation by SYRIZA president Stefanos Kasselakis after it emerged that a US-based company owned by the latter loaned 230,000 euros to media controlled by the leftist party.
The money was ostensibly used to cover the December salaries and holiday bonuses of staff-members working for the party’s media outlets.
The specific law stipulates that Parliament-represented political party leaders cannot own companies abroad. Kasselakis has countered that he is not an elected deputy of Greece’s Parliament and was unaware if the specific law applies to him.
The newcomer to Greek politics surprised the local political establishment last September by winning an internal party election for SYRIZA’s helm after the resignation of former premier Alexis Tsipras. Speculation was rife at the time that Kasselakis was hand-picked by Tsipras as his successor, with the latter’s supporters and party mechanism turning out the votes for the one-time Goldman Sachs junior trader.
While Kasselakis freely admitted to loaning the money to the company Left Media last December, it only emerged recently that the sum was not a personal loan but was conveyed by a corporate entity from abroad, one controlled by the SYRIZA leader.
Relevant documents of the transfer, in fact, came to light after the recent firing of SYRIZA’s chief financial officer.
