In 1964, after the Center Union won the elections (on the 16th of February with 53% of the vote), Parliament became the staging ground of events that began with the attempt by the far right to invade the House and ended with the military coup on the 21st of April 1967.
The political developments at the time were linked with accusations about scandals, the greatest of which were related to the newly-established public electricity company, DEI.
Many majority MPs demanded the judicial investigation of these scandals, which implicated the higher echelons of the previous government. The Papandreou government did not satisfy the demands of the left, primarily, faction of his party – obviously there was no evidence to back the scandal accusations.
As such, a large section of MPs from the governing Center Union took the initiative to submit a proposal to refer the former Prime Minister K. Karamanlis and his associates, ministers and other officials to the Special Court. The G. Papandreou government did not take a clear stand and after the preliminary investigation it refused to carry out a vote, which would push the investigation forward or file the case away.
This case, however one may view it, poisoned the country’s political life. The main person facing accusations was Aristides Protopapadakis, who was Minister of Industry in the ERE government. The journalists in Parliament at the time reported on how the former minister arrived with black hair, only to leave, in the early hours in the morning, fully white.
A few days later, with the majority split, Parliament decided to close the case due to a lapse of limitations. Years later, K. Karamanlis argued that he will never forgive his opponents at the time “because they attempted my political assassination”.
The relations between the political leadership and DEI were rarely praised. In the same year, 1964, allegations were made about scandals involving the G. Papandreou government (DEI’s gas turbines). Life however went on, until Andreas Papandreou told his ministers about the infamous “500 million drachma present for himself”, in reference to the newly-removed director of DEI.
All of the aforementioned could merely be the preamble to the ongoing (!) story of DEI. The public utility was directed by the infamous general of violence and fraud. At one point, G. Papandreou once argued in Parliament “who are you, General Kardamakis, you unworthy leader of the Army…”
Note: Kardamakis was the leader of the Hellenic Army General Staff and a central div in the “Pericles” plan. A few years later the military junta appointed him Director of DEI.
Stavros P. Psycharis
Originally published in the Sunday print edition
