Greek law, introduced by Venizelos, allows Greek ministers to get bribes, but it does not allow them to launder that money! That’s why out of all these ministers who got huge bribes, only Tsochatzopoulos got in trouble!
Graecokleptocrats have long been dubbed the untouchables. MPs cannot be touched, because they are protected by impunity, engraved in the ridiculous constitution of Greece! However, mayors do not enjoy impunity. MPs have received bribes and kickbacks amounting to two hundred billion euros since the end of dictatorship in 1974, and nobody can do anything about it. A seat in the parliament comes with a robbing license. Italian presidents enjoy same privileges!
By Aldo Giannulli
A letter has recently turned up, written by Napolitano’s general secretary Loris D’Ambrosio who, as we all know, recently died from a heart attack. In this letter, written right in the midst of the controversy with the magistrates, D’Ambrosio defines himself as "the humble scribe of unmentionable agreements", a phrase that has attracted the attention of the magistrates, who would like to know a little more about what on earth the general secretary of the State President’s office had to do with the process surrounding the deals between the State and the Mafia. For example, it begs the question as to whether there was any intervention to swing the investigations in favour of former Senate President Nicola Mancino.
The Magistrature may indeed ask the State President to testify since this is provided for in the laws that stipulate the manner in which the State President may be interviewed. As a matter of fact, he is not required to go to Palermo, but the Court must go to his offices at the Quirinale to interview him. The fact that there is a more or less official procedure in place means that this can indeed be done. The Magistrates are within their rights to summons him and ask whatever questions they may deem fit. Napolitano may however refuse to go to them.
The State President enjoys special immunity in that he may only be put on trial for undermining the Constitution or for high treason. For the entire duration of his mandate, he cannot be tried for anything else and even less so can he be forced to testify, nor can a case docket be opened against a State President who refuses to testify and he cannot be forced to answer any questions since he cannot be charged for withholding evidence. Should Napolitano agree to provide his testimony, he could say whatever he wants since he is in no way obliged to answer all the questions. Let’s just say that this would be officially correct but at the same time impossible due to the legally binding nature of the law.
Should Napolitano give false testimony, withhold evidence or even fail to turn up at all, a case docket could be opened after the end of mandate, an hypothesis that is entirely theoretical and arguable at best and would open up an extremely complex legal can of worms. In reality, there is no way in which the State President can be obliged to sit back and do nothing.
In his letter, D’Ambrosio says that "I am the humble scribe of unmentionable agreements", but what is he actually talking about? It would indeed be opportune for Napolitano to agree to go, for a variety of reasons. Any refusal on his part would in fact raise some very serious doubts: "Why does the State President not want to go?" or "What’s behind it all?” This would immediately raise a whole tsunami of doubts and suspicions that would completely sweep away the credibility of the State President’s Office.
On the other hand, it would be equally unpleasant if this were to raise yet another controversy, not least of which regarding jurisdiction: if the matter were to result in a disciplinary issue, it would have to be referred to the CSM (literally: the Upper Council of the Magistrature), of which President Napolitano himself is Chairman. Constitutional systems are closed, rational and convention-based, or rather, we take it for granted that there is a proper procedure for every occasion and for solving any problem that may arise, however, this is not actually the case.
In the case of Constitutions, as with any other man-made thing, there are times when things do not go as planned and therefore there is no proper regulatory process in place to handle them. So it all comes down to propriety, or let’s just say institutional “fair play” to avoid sweeping away the credibility of the State President’s Office and the Magistrature any further.
Eurozone should cut its losses short by expelling the four PIGS. Basil Venitis, venitis@gmail.com, http://themostsearched.blogspot.com @Venitis
0 komentar:
Post a Comment