Parliamentary question raised over €200,000 contract awards to associates of Bekiri
Achaea deputy Sia Anagnostopoulou has submitted a parliamentary question concerning direct awards of legal services to relatives and friends of Michalis Bekiri.
Parliamentary question over contracts to associates of Bekiri
Revelations by In.gr regarding direct awards of legal services to individuals from the circle of Michalis Bekiri, a former senior official at the Prime Minister's Office and godfather of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, have reached Parliament. The question was submitted by Achaea deputy Sia Anagnostopoulou, addressed to the Ministers of Justice, Economy, Health and Maritime Affairs.
According to the reports cited by the deputy, there is an uncovered "an extensive phenomenon of continuous and piecemeal direct awards of legal services 'per case'" by public bodies and supervised legal entities. The bodies involved include the Port Authority of Patras (OLPA A.E.), the 6th Health Region, the Hellenic Open University, the University General Hospital of Patras "Panagia i Voitheia" in Rio, and the General Hospital of Volos.
The lawyers who received the awards, according to the question, are connected to "close familial, friendly, godparent or political relations with senior government figures". Anagnostopoulou points out that the lawful procedure for recruiting legal advisers, based on article 43 of Law 4194/2013 (Lawyers' Code), provides for a selection committee with representatives of Bar Associations and the State Legal Council — a procedure that appears to have been systematically circumvented.
Characteristic examples and amounts
Among the specific examples cited by the deputy are:
- OLPA A.E.: Multi-year contract awards totalling €120,000 to relatives of Bekiri.
- 6th Health Region and Volos Hospital: Contract awards reaching €200,000, with the assignment of Volos cases to lawyers from Achaea because of the political status of the administrator there.
- Rio Hospital: From 2024, awards to a local political figure and trade unionist of the Bar Association, Vasilis Galanopoulou.
This practice, according to the question, has provoked "intense uproar and angry reactions in the legal profession", with protest letters and requests for an emergency convening of the competent bodies. At the same time, "serious legal questions" are being raised regarding the commission of the crime of dereliction of duty, particularly if the bodies already had salaried legal services or if the fees were excessive.
Four questions to the ministers
Anagnostopoulou asks the competent ministers to answer four specific questions:
1. For what reasons did the administrations select "per case" awards instead of the lawful publication of salaried legal adviser positions with participation by the Bar Association. 2. Whether the bodies had an internal Legal Service or salaried lawyers at the time of the awards, and what was the justification for resorting to external lawyers. 3. What is the precise total amount paid from 2019 to the present by each body to external lawyers through direct awards, and how does this compare with the cost of fixed legal retainers. 4. Whether the competent ministries and audit mechanisms intend to order an immediate administrative and legal investigation to determine whether there has been a breach of duty or dereliction of duty against the property of the public legal entities.
Source: In.gr