Government Minister's ‘’offshore’’ trip to Venezuela draws ire

New Democracy Leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis put forward the question in Parliament on Monday, demanding explanations over the Minister’s trip saying “it is absolutely certain that Pappas and Artemiou did not find themselves in Caracas to talk about vegetables, as the minister had originally claimed and was later refuted by Artemiou, but had a series of meetings with various representatives of the Chavez government and business people that Pappas, for reasons of his own, attempted to keep secret,” said Mitsotakis.

“After yesterday’s revealing report, it is now clear to all that Mr Artemiou travelled with Mr. Pappas to Caracas, and that Mr  Tsipras knew this. As if this were not enough, the two of them travelled in the private jet of the businessman Majed Khalil – who according to the report is involved in very dark affairs and has privileged ties with the Maduro regime – to the Caribbean island of Margarita and stayed in a luxury resort that Khalil owns.”

New Democracy demanded to know the reason for Artemiou’s visit to the Maximos Mansion on October 10, 2016, what expertise Artemiou provided to Tsipras and Pappas, given that he specialises in offshore firms, who paid the trip to Venezuela, whether the SYRIZA party received funding from either the Venezuelan government or businesses, whether Pappas met Khalil in Venezuela, whether the aircraft he used belonged to Khalil, whether Khalil met any members of the Greek government after January 25, 2015 and the links between Pappas, Artemiou and Khalil.