Greek minister is accused of benefiting from reinstatement of public employees

First entry: 21 March 2015

The leftist government of Alexis Tsipras faced its first internal crisis as a media report revealed that the deputy minister of public administration was offering his services for a fee to sacked public –sector workers.
According to an exclusive report in To Vima due to be published on Sunday, George Katrougalos, a practicing lawyer before he assumed office in January, signed private contracts with laid-off workers that would have given him a fee for each reinstatement.
According to the report, the fee was 12% of the gross compensation for each worker and the minister continued to sign private contracts up until January 27, when he was sworn in.
Katrougalos is the minister responsible for implementing Syriza’s pledge to rehire thousands of public-sector workers sacked by the previous governments.
In a press conference late on Saturday, Katrougalos denied the report. He said that the documents presented were fake and accused To Vima newspaper of provocation.
Opposition parties are calling for his resignation. However,  according to reports, PM Tsipras is  providing full support to the embattled minister.

Source: enikos.gr