Prosecutor reopens case against former ELSTAT chief

Supreme Court Prosecutor Xeni Dimitriou ordered yesterday the reopening of a case against the former head of Greece’s statistical service, Andreas Georgiou, even though a Council of Appeals Court judges ruled for a second time that he should not face charges.

It is the second time that the country’s top prosecutor has overturned an earlier ruling in favor of Georgiou.

Dimitriou accepted a motion for the overturning of the decision exonerating Georgiou of the charge of making a false statement, a criminal offense. Now the issue will have to be discussed again by judges in the Athens Court of Appeals. According to sources, Dimitriou found legal cause to order the re-examination.

Criminal charges were first brought against Georgiou in 2013 after ELSTAT employees accused him of artificially inflating Greek deficit figure for 2009 to force the country into an international bailout. The European statistical service, Eurostat, has repeatedly assured that Georgiou applied correct procedures.

Recently, Greece’s lenders demanded that the cases against Georgiou be settled and that the state should cover his legal costs. The issue appeared to have been settled before Greece received its latest bailout tranche of 7.7 billion euros.

Georgiou is currently standing trial in a separate case in which he has been accused of breach of duty. The trial has been adjourned until July 31.