Greek governing party boycotts parliament debate on probing criminal charges in land scandal

By keeping his deputies away from the vote over the burgeoning monastery land swap scandal, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis guaranteed that the motion would fail: It needed 151 votes in the 300-member parliament to pass, and the conservatives hold 152 seats.

"The image Parliament presents today is unprecedented in parliamentary history," thundered opposition socialist PASOK deputy Evangelos Venizelos, whose party had brought the motion.

The absence of the governing party's deputies was "an insult to parliament, but mainly an insult to the sensitivities and intelligence of the Greek people," he said, accusing Karamanlis of being afraid that some of his own deputies would vote in favor.

The scandal, in which the wealthy 1,000-year-old Vatopedi monastery traded cheap land for high-value state property, has hurt the government's popularity, with the conservatives recently seeing their ratings dip below those of the socialists for the first time in eight years.

A preliminary judicial investigation found the deals were weighted in favor of Vatopedi, which lies in the autonomous monastic community of Mount Athos, with the cost to the state believed to have been at least €100 million (US$136 million). The government canceled the land deals this month and acknowledged they had hurt the public interest.

Friday's motion sought to have parliament consider criminal charges against one of Karamanlis' top aides, Theodoros Roussopoulos, as well as against a deputy minister and a former minister. Under Greek law, only parliament can decide whether deputies should have their immunity lifted and face prosecution.

Roussopoulos, the 45-year-old Minister of State and government spokesman, resigned his Cabinet post on Wednesday, saying he was stepping down to defend himself against a "malicious and totally groundless attack."

He is the second minister to quit over the scandal. Giorgos Voulgarakis resigned as Merchant Marine minister last month after his wife was accused of acting as a notary in some of the transactions. He denied there had been any impropriety.

Although Friday's motion had no chance of passing, left-wing opposition deputies went ahead with the debate. The right-wing opposition party LAOS, which holds 10 seats, also walked out of parliament after the session started.

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