PASOK conclusion on the tragedy in Tempes: To turn the committee of inquiry into a preliminary review

The conversion of the committee of inquiry into the “research of their crime” to a preliminary committee is proposed by the Members of the Movement for Change M. Apostolakis, G. Nikitiades and A. Panas. In a statement, the three Members who participate in the committee of inquiry into the tragedy in Tempes, consider it impossible to issue a comprehensive conclusion as “we have neither received the whole of the case-file nor any material witnesses were examined. This has been the pursuit of the government majority since the beginning,” PASOK MPs note. They also stress that “the government’s choice to cover up, through the non-essential investigation of the case and in particular the possible existence of criminal responsibilities to political persons cannot be accepted not only by PASOK, but primarily by society which requires that light be shed on the case and that responsibilities be attributed no matter how high they are.” According to PASOK-Movement Members, a further criminal investigation of the case for the two competent Ministers of Transport and Infrastructure of the Governments of Syriza and New Democracy is required, “who are responsible for not completing the work of the contested Convention 717/2014, which is in direct causal link to the tragic Tembe accident [.] It has already emerged that if the signalling-television system had been delivered within the exclusive deadline, which the contract had foreseen, and in any case operated on 28/2/2023, the accident would not have occurred, as the use and operation of all those systems would have prevented the collision, immobilising trains either through the ETCS system, or at the same time through the operation of the Larisa KEK remote administration, the two-way signalling of the line and the GSMR system.” In particular, for Mr Karamanlis’ responsibilities, it should be noted that the evidence of guilt against him is reinforced by the following objective facts: – The conscious disregard of the National Transparency Authority’s Possession. -The contract with Hellenic Train, tabled by the Minister on his own responsibility and initiative and passed in July 2022 exclusively by the New Democracy party. According to the above, the then Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, defiantly ignoring the decision of TRAINOSE Board of Directors of November 2020 and acting against the interests of the Greek State and in favour of TRAINOSE’s interests later Hellenic Train, in breach of the relevant European legislation and in particular the provision of Article 4 §4 of the Regulation (EC) 1370/2007, reduced its investment obligations on rolling stock and infrastructure from 645m euros to just 77m euros, while extending Hellenic Train’s subsidy obligations from the Greek State for five more years. – The then Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, did not establish National Security Rules as it was due under Directives 2016/798 and 2016/797, nor did he take security measures by introducing new National Security Rules (Article 60 Law 4632/2019). The fact that he did not simply declare the contractor of the contract for the huge delays in the execution of the project to be deductible, but made undue compensation of EUR 2,767,782,93 for positive damage. -The conscious disregard of written warnings of the Motor Union’s trade union body”. Regarding the responsibilities of the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of the SYRIZA government Mr.Spirtzis, PASOK-Kinimas Change MPs note that “he did not also declare the contractor of the contract to be disqualified for the huge delays in the execution of the project as he had to and chose to ignore warnings about existing safety issues on the railway.”