Charges of government cover-up in Mati wildfire case by former Fire Servivce chief

Former Fire Service deputy chief Andrianos Gourbatsis has sent an open letter to Citizen’s Protection Minister Olga Gerovasili and Deputy Minister Katerina Papakosta requesting that the ministry launch an administrative investigation of the Mati wildfire with the sworn testimony of officials involved in managing the fire, so as to find those who through errors and omissions brought disaster and 98 deaths in Eastern Attica.

Gourbatsis, who is acting as technical advisor to the families whose relatives perished in the deadly fire, in his letter speaks of serious and criminal errors and omissions by the organs of public administration, including the General Secretariat of Civil Protection, the Fire Service, Greek Police, the Attica Prefecture, and competent municipalities.

After enumerating the state services he holds responsible for their handling of the deadly wildfire, Gourbatsis’ open letter is as follows:

“Unfortunately, the then competent and now former ministers did not do what was legally and morally self-evident due to their responsibility for the greatest tragedy with victims of a wildfire in Greek history: To ask the General Inspector of Public Administration to conduct an administrative probe, to ascertain the causes of the fire and to find those responsible for this tragedy, as was done in 2009 with that disastrous fire in Northeastern Attica.

As you well know, the criminal probe ordered by the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court to be conducted by the Athens Lower Court’s Prosecutor’s Office, which is already in progress, is completely independent of a potential parallel administrative probe of the same case, because the type of prospective responsibilities is different, and the distinct probes view from a different perspective the causes of 98 deaths.

It is possible that the organs of Public Administration that are responsible from a disciplinary point of view do not bear criminal responsibility. The dysfunctions of the civil protection mechanism that contributed to the disaster and its effects, and which should be found in an administrative probe, may not be punishable from a criminal law perspective.

Given all of the above, in my capacity as technical advisor, I ask you, if you believe that all was not well done, to fulfil your legal and moral duty -arising from your political authority – to the citizens of this country and the relatives of the victim, to instruct the General Inspector of Public Administration to conduct an administrative probe of the causes and conditions of the national tragedy, and of possible disciplinary responsibilities of the competent organs of public administration, so that any dysfunctions and irregularities can be corrected and not be repeated in the future, with similar results.

Your continuing omission of ordering an administrative probe with sworn testimony (EDE), conceals the ulterior motive of a cover-up of the responsibilities of those responsible for the national tragedy.»

With honour,

Andrianos Gourbatsis

Retired deputy Fire Service chief and lawyer

Former Fire Service deputy chief Andrianos Gourbatsis has sent an open letter to Citizen’s Protection Minister Olga Gerovasili and Deputy Minister Katerina Papakosta requesting that the ministry launch an administrative investigation of the Mati wildfire with the sworn testimony of officials involved in managing the fire, so as to find those who through errors and omissions brought disaster and 98 deaths in Eastern Attica.

Gourbatsis, who is acting as technical advisor to the families whose relatives perished in the deadly fire, in his letter speaks of serious and criminal errors and omissions by the organs of public administration, including the General Secretariat of Civil Protection, the Fire Service, Greek Police, the Attica Prefecture, and competent municipalities.

After enumerating the state services he holds responsible for their handling of the deadly wildfire, Gourbatsis’ open letter is as follows:

“Unfortunately, the then competent and now former ministers did not do what was legally and morally self-evident due to their responsibility for the greatest tragedy with victims of a wildfire in Greek history: To ask the General Inspector of Public Administration to conduct an administrative probe, to ascertain the causes of the fire and to find those responsible for this tragedy, as was done in 2009 with that disastrous fire in Northeastern Attica.

As you well know, the criminal probe ordered by the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court to be conducted by the Athens Lower Court’s Prosecutor’s Office, which is already in progress, is completely independent of a potential parallel administrative probe of the same case, because the type of prospective responsibilities is different, and the distinct probes view from a different perspective the causes of 98 deaths.

It is possible that the organs of Public Administration that are responsible from a disciplinary point of view do not bear criminal responsibility. The dysfunctions of the civil protection mechanism that contributed to the disaster and its effects, and which should be found in an administrative probe, may not be punishable from a criminal law perspective.

Given all of the above, in my capacity as technical advisor, I ask you, if you believe that all was not well done, to fulfil your legal and moral duty -arising from your political authority – to the citizens of this country and the relatives of the victim, to instruct the General Inspector of Public Administration to conduct an administrative probe of the causes and conditions of the national tragedy, and of possible disciplinary responsibilities of the competent organs of public administration, so that any dysfunctions and irregularities can be corrected and not be repeated in the future, with similar results.

Your continuing omission of ordering an administrative probe with sworn testimony (EDE), conceals the ulterior motive of a cover-up of the responsibilities of those responsible for the national tragedy.

With honour,

Andrianos Gourbatsis

Retired deputy Fire Service chief and lawyer

Former Fire Service deputy chief Andrianos Gourbatsis has sent an open letter to Citizen’s Protection Minister Olga Gerovasili and Deputy Minister Katerina Papakosta requesting that the ministry launch an administrative investigation of the Mati wildfire with the sworn testimony of officials involved in managing the fire, so as to find those who through errors and omissions brought disaster and 98 deaths in Eastern Attica.

Gourbatsis, who is acting as technical advisor to the families whose relatives perished in the deadly fire, in his letter speaks of serious and criminal errors and omissions by the organs of public administration, including the General Secretariat of Civil Protection, the Fire Service, Greek Police, the Attica Prefecture, and competent municipalities.

After enumerating the state services he holds responsible for their handling of the deadly wildfire, Gourbatsis’ open letter is as follows:

“Unfortunately, the then competent and now former ministers did not do what was legally and morally self-evident due to their responsibility for the greatest tragedy with victims of a wildfire in Greek history: To ask the General Inspector of Public Administration to conduct an administrative probe, to ascertain the causes of the fire and to find those responsible for this tragedy, as was done in 2009 with that disastrous fire in Northeastern Attica.

As you well know, the criminal probe ordered by the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court to be conducted by the Athens Lower Court’s Prosecutor’s Office, which is already in progress, is completely independent of a potential parallel administrative probe of the same case, because the type of prospective responsibilities is different, and the distinct probes view from a different perspective the causes of 98 deaths.

It is possible that the organs of Public Administration that are responsible from a disciplinary point of view do not bear criminal responsibility. The dysfunctions of the civil protection mechanism that contributed to the disaster and its effects, and which should be found in an administrative probe, may not be punishable from a criminal law perspective.

Given all of the above, in my capacity as technical advisor, I ask you, if you believe that all was not well done, to fulfil your legal and moral duty -arising from your political authority – to the citizens of this country and the relatives of the victim, to instruct the General Inspector of Public Administration to conduct an administrative probe of the causes and conditions of the national tragedy, and of possible disciplinary responsibilities of the competent organs of public administration, so that any dysfunctions and irregularities can be corrected and not be repeated in the future, with similar results.

Your continuing omission of ordering an administrative probe with sworn testimony (EDE), conceals the ulterior motive of a cover-up of the responsibilities of those responsible for the national tragedy.

With honour,

Andrianos Gourbatsis

Retired deputy Fire Service chief and lawyer