‘As long as the case is pending before the judiciary, the person who attempted to undermine its independence cannot remain a minister,’ PASOK said in a statement.

In an interview on Thursday morning, Floridis questioned the decision to refer former Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Christos Triantopoulos and four other individuals to the Special Court over the handling of the site of the Tempi train disaster.

Speaking to SKAI, Floridis described the political controversy surrounding the case as a ‘political conspiracy’ and claimed it had been orchestrated to damage the government.

The minister questioned whether parliament had specified what evidence was lost as a result of interventions at the site of the crash.

‘Parliament does not mention what evidence was lost,’ he said. Referring to parliament’s finding that relatives of the victims had been deprived of crucial evidence, he added: ‘Is there any reference to what they were deprived of?’

The Judicial Council, however, states in the reasoning of its ruling that soil, rubbish and debris were removed from the site, noting that these actions ‘resulted in the loss of valuable information for the investigation and critical evidence’.

PASOK said that ‘Justice Minister Giorgos Floridis has lost all sense of proportion’ and ‘imagines that he has uncovered invisible conspiracies, while he himself, as the minister responsible, attempted to guide the judiciary by issuing findings in parliament and on television channels before the Judicial Council had even taken charge of the investigation’.

‘His unreliability and deeply anti-institutional stance were exposed following Triantopoulos’s referral over the tampering, which today he is forced to admit ultimately took place and may have contributed to the loss of evidence,’ PASOK said.

The party added that ‘it is now clear that, while the case is pending before the judiciary, the person who attempted to undermine its independence cannot remain a minister’.

‘It is a matter of transparency that he resign or be dismissed immediately,’ the statement concluded.

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