Ex-minister Pappas referred to special court over television license procedure

A council of top jurists on Tuesday indicted former SYRIZA minister Nikos Pappas on a sole charge related to a nationwide television licensing process undertaken by the previous digital policy and telecoms ministry.

The indictment will be presented in a special court, comprised of 13 high court justices, seven from the Supreme Court and six from the Council of State (CoS), all of whom will be selected in a drawing. The chairperson of the special court will be the judge with the most seniority.

Pappas, a current MP re-elected with the now main opposition SYRIZA party, faces one court of dereliction of duty, a misdemeanor.

Additionally, businessman and construction contractor Christos Kalogritsas was also referred to trial. The latter had attempted to compete in a controversial tender process for the television licenses, which the Tsipras coalition government at one point limited to four – based on a recommendation by a single, and much criticized study undertaken researchers at the University of Florence in Italy.

Kalogritsas has publicly charged that he acted as Pappas’ “front man” in the licensing process, in order to create a television channel favorable to the then leftist government between 2015 and 2019.

Kalogritsas has also claimed that Pappas intervened and secured three million euros in capital from an Athens-based construction firm in order to partially finance the project, with a “phantom” real estate deal in the UAE used as a ruse.