Bank of Greece (BoG) Gov. Yannis Stournaras on Tuesday called for judicial action after Alternate Health Minister Pavlos Polakis, a day earlier, leaked a phone conversation he had with Greece's central banker, hours after the BoG reviewed a consumer loan granted to the office-holder.
Stournaras, a former finance minister and banking executive, said the recording was made without his consent and in violation of the law.
Polakis, a firebrand leftist who has repeatedly threatened political rivals in the past, smoked his cigarette at a health ministry press briefing and even boasted of "cooking the books" while serving as a mayor on the island of Crete, appeared peeved over the fact that the central bank reviewed his 100,000-euro consumer loan. The latter was extended by non-systemic Attica Bank and guaranteed with a second mortgage.
"The unheard of effort by Minister Pavlos Polakis to influence the Bank of Greece's administration, and me personally, on how we discharge our duties is a vile institutional intervention," Stournaras said, in a released statement.
He also called on the Greek prime minister and the current government to fully and substantively guarantee the BoG's independence, which is established in European and Greek law.
Polakis leaded the conversation to a pro-government website, and then promptly took to Facebook to confirm the leak and then say he'll come to Stournaras' office in three day if the latter doesn't probe loans to political rivals.
In the wake of a massive political fallout on Tuesday, Polakis spoke in parliament and denied that he recorded the conversation, merely saying he has a "good memory".
In a statement posted on the BoG's website, Stournaras writes:
Bank of Greece Governor, Yannis Stournaras, issued the following statement earlier today:
“In the over four years that I have had the honour of serving as Governor of the Bank of Greece, I have, for obvious reasons, refrained from making any statements that could in any way be subject to political exploitation. All the more so since the Bank of Greece, as a member of the Eurosystem, is responsible for supervising part of the Greek financial system. Nonetheless, after yesterday’s unprecedented attempt by a member of the executive to interfere, in an unheard-of manner, with the performance of my duties, I feel obliged to proceed to certain self-evident clarifications, as well as actions.
It is historically unprecedented by European standards for a government minister to record a private telephone conversation and to immediately leak, selectively, falsified parts of such a conversation to a media outlet, friendly to the government, thus seeking to ensure favourable coverage. These actions occurred without my consent and constitute a violation of the Greek Penal Code. The relevant judicial authorities must take action on their own initiative. The preposterous attempt by minister Pavlos Polakis to interfere with how the Administration of the Bank of Greece and I personally perform our duties is a gross institutional transgression. I call upon the Prime Minister and the government to take immediate steps in order to safeguard the independence of the Bank of Greece, as enshrined in European and Greek law."
