Clinic head ‘took bribe’
Two doctors, including the head of a clinic, have been arrested this week on suspicion of accepting bribes from patients and not issuing proper receipts, authorities said yesterday. One, who practices at a private hospital in Athens, was arrested after an anonymous complaint to the 11012 hotline. He is accused of taking 1,800 euros from two patients and only issuing receipts for 150 euros in each case. The other doctor is the head of an orthopedic clinic in central Macedonia. The 50year-old is accused of demanding an underthe-table payment of 400 euros in order to operate on a patient.
Skouries attack.
A 54-year-old man arrested following an arson attack on the vehicles and offices of Hellas Gold at the Skouries gold mine in Halkidiki has said he will sue three of the company’s security guards for defamation. Lazaros Toskas claims he was unfairly targeted because he is a member of leftwing opposition party SYRIZA. Some 40 people attacked the Skouries mine on Sunday morning but Toskas insists he was not part of the group, although he opposes the project. “There is a movement in our area that has the support of the majority of residents but it has become known for the wrong reasons,” he told Skai TV yesterday, adding that he believes the mine will damage the environment, tourism and farming in the area.
Kasidiaris suit.
Golden Dawn MP Ilias Kasidiaris sued the police yesterday for breach of duty after they arrested one of the party’s members following an altercation outside the far-right group’s offices in Anavyssos, southeast of Athens. Police were called after a driver passing by the office while an event was being held there alleged he had been chased and slapped by a group of Golden Dawn supporters. The driver was reported to be a member of the Communist Party-affiliated union PAME. One Golden Dawn member was arrested after the event but was released as the victim said he was not the man who slapped him and did not wish to press charges.
Suicide thwarted.
Two officers of the police’s motorcycle-riding DIAS unit dived into the waters of the Thermaic Gulf in Poseidonio near Thessaloniki to save a 23-year-old woman who had jumped into the sea in an apparent suicide attempt yesterday. With the help of two more officers operating a pulley, the policemen managed to pull the woman to shore. The woman, who was hospitalized for preventive health checks, had psychological problems, local media quoted her mother as saying.