By Katerina Iliadis
A big issue has been opened in the Social Democrat Movement EDEK in relation to the management of finances and the utilization of the party's real estate. After the publication by “P” report, regarding three checks (with two signatures) that were cut from blocks of checks of EDEK -of 1,650 euros each and dated 13/1 / 2021- to pay personal obligations of the financial director of the party George Koutouki, the political office of the Movement appointed a four-member committee to investigate the whole issue. The committee is headed by the vice-president of EDEK, Elena Perikleous, and members are the MP Elias Myrianthous, the former president of DEK, Diomidis Diomidou, and the member of the political office, Andriani Odysseos. It is recalled that Mr. Koutoukis had stated the following to “P” at the time: “The checks were accidentally cut from the party checkbook, it was a pre-election period, I had a lot of work to do, I was confused. “When I got it right, in March, I cut a check from my own checkbook and all the money was returned to the party.”
Asked to say if this mistake has been repeated, Mr. Koutoukis answered categorically: “Such a thing has never happened before.” The president of EDEK, Marinos Sizopoulos, had taken the same reasoning at the time, with his statements in our newspaper. Apart from being informed about the incident in the week before the parliamentary elections, he also said that: “I did not know the issue, because I do not deal with the party finances. There is a financial committee, an audit office, and since I took over the party I have appointed a second audit office to do internal audit. And all party statements will be submitted to the registrar of Political Parties and the Audit Office. “It seems to be careless, that is, the checkbooks were confused and when the mistake was later found, the money was returned back to the party.” However, a well-informed source who spoke to “P”, claims that the first money was returned by check on June 2, 2021, the day that “P” contacted Mr. Koutoukis to ask for his position regarding this report. published the next day, June 3, 2021. According to first-class EDEK executives who spoke to “P”, the president of EDEK, Marinos Sizopoulos, was informed about the issue of checks on March 22, 2021, and had not taken any action until today. ».
More about the issue in the printed version of “P” and for the subscribers of POLITIS PREMIUM the digital version of the newspaper in PDF at the same time with its printed circulation daily from 05.00 in the morning.
