The mayor of Sparta and former minister of ND, Petros Doukas, gave his own answer after the reactions to his unacceptable statements about the fires in Ilia in 2007.
In a post on Facebook, he said that it was an unfortunate incident and an exaggeration, while he apologized to Spilios Livanos, who was forced to resign by the prime minister, as he did not react to what Petros Doukas said about the fires in Ilia.
Specifically in his post he mentions:
“An exaggerated and unfortunate div of speech took on an unexpected dimension!
I’m sorry and saddened that this has resulted in the resignation of one of the most capable ministers and my friend.
I apologize to him!
I want everyone to know that everything we tried to support the fire victims of Ilia in 2007 (15 years ago), was done with absolute transparency and legitimacy that no one questioned, not even the then opposition!
Everything was done with certificates, and with spot checks carried out by special teams and the municipalities themselves. The money was distributed by credit institutions with full transparency, with full Government oversight. The certificates were constantly checked by the services of the General Accountant of the State. There was a constant press presence and coverage, and everything was done in full knowledge of all parties and local government bodies, with constant announcements by the Government Spokesperson, and under the light of the sun!
As everyone knows, there were not and could not be ‘bags’ or anything like that! It was an ‘exaggerated’ and unfortunate div of speech to show the magnitude but also the speed of our gigantic endeavor and our sensitivity to our fellow human beings who had been so badly injured and experienced such a drama, with so many dead; to demonstrate the speed and flexibility with which the then government operated, so that it could alleviate, even in the slightest, the human suffering caused by the biblical catastrophe – and to highlight and underline the request of the farmers of Laconia to The Government should expedite the payment of compensation to the Laconian farmers whose crops have been affected by the recent frost.
I respect the decision of the Prime Minister and I wish the Government and the Prime Minister personally to continue successfully their very difficult and very important work, in unprecedented negative circumstances!
Yours sincerely
Petros G. Doukas »
