Alternate Health Minister Pavlos Polakis, in remarks to the ruling party’s Central Committee, issued an unprecedented call for SYRIZA to pressure the judiciary to expedite pending corruption cases involving SYRIZA’s opponents in order to win the next election.
Though he did not cite a specific case, that would include the Novartis affair, in which the government attempted to implicate former PM Antonis Samaras and previous New Democracy and Pasok Ministers.
Polakis had previously declared that “some people should be put in jail” [for corruption] if SYRIZA hopes to win the next election.
In an audio recording obtained by Parapolitika.gr, Polakis outlines the proposed procedure to influence the judiciary, noting that it is a “very specific issue”.
At the 14 October party meeting, Polakis said, “The judiciary must expedite what it is doing. We cannot continue with high culture. We cannot let this happen, and we are not, but we must push more, and that must be clear in our rhetoric.”
Indeed, Polakis conceded that this is risky, but stressed “That’s the way it is.”
