![]() In the case of judges, revelations of payoffs have mostly involved narcotics cases, where dealers have money to bribe whomever they can, especially court councils, which issue rulings to free susp[ects in the initial phases of the criminal process. At times, errors are purposely inserted in court documents to allow a conviction to be overturned on appeal. The secretaries of investigating magistrates, whose probes are by law secret, often leak testimony to the press or to other parties to a case, thus influencing the judicial outcome. Corrupt judicial secretaries sometimes confiscate or illegally alter court records, from arrest warrants to convictions, leaving culprits off the hook. The police get a 20 percent commission," Koutras explains.Īt the level of court supreme court administration, Koutras points to illegal practices. "Each precinct and police directorate - like narcotics, homicide, immigration and robbery - channels cases to specific lawyers. It began with an audio tape of Piraeus judge Antonia Elia allegedly telling a drug convict that in order to get off the hook he had to pay a hefty sum to Athens lawyer Sakis, who in turn would pay off an appellate prosecutor.Ĭriminal lawyer Costas Koutras, whose 30-year practice includes a string of sensational nationally publicised cases, says that judicial corruption includes policemen, investigating magistrates, court secretaries, prosecutors and judges. Scandal revelations snowballed after a Piraeus corruption ring was uncovered at the beginning of the year. ![]() But top criminal lawyers tell the Athens News that corruption has long permeated the Greek justice system at all levels. Appellate prosecutor Kyriakos Karoutsos requested on November 15 that the MP's parliamentary immunity be lifted so he can be prosecuted on charges of bribing a judge and money laundering when he was a Piraeus criminal lawyer. The alleged involvement of independent MP Petros Mantouvalos (elected on New Democracy's ticket) may serve to politicise the problem. ![]() When justice is not blind, she is greedy, as Greece's burgeoning judicial corruption scandals have amply shown. ![]()
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