Greek prosecutor 'to charge statistics chief over deficit'

11:22PM GMT 22 Jan 2013

Greece's statistics chief will face felony charges over accusations he artificially inflated budget deficit figures in a bid to make the country's debt crisis appear even worse than it was, court sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

Unreliable Greek statistics with frequent data revisions have been blamed in part for pushing Greece to a financial crisis. Photo: BLOOMBERG

Greek statistics agency ELSTAT head Andreas Georgiou has previously denied wrongdoing and the EU's own Eurostat statistics agency has defended him, saying the deficit was calculated in line with its standards.

However, an economic crimes prosecutor recommended the felony charges be filed against Georgiou and two other ELSTAT employees after finding evidence that they falsified the country's 2009 fiscal data, a court official said on condition of anonymity.

The case stems from allegations by an ELSTAT employee who was dismissed that Georgiou inflated the deficit numbers as part of a German-led conspiracy to justify harsh austerity measures to accompany a bailout.

"The request concerns breach of duty and the falsification of fiscal data," the official said, without giving further details.

Georgiou, a 52-year old veteran IMF statistician and martial arts teacher, was not available for comment.

In the past, he has denied any wrongdoing and called it an "unprecedented" case of statisticians being investigated for producing figures under EU regulations.

The prosecutor's move reopens last year's domestic political row on whether wrong fiscal data was to blame for a loss of confidence in Greek debt in late 2009, before Georgiou took over the agency, forcing Athens to seek an international bailout that has since swollen to 240 billion euros - the biggest sovereign rescue in history.

Unreliable Greek statistics with frequent data revisions have been blamed in part for pushing Greece to a financial crisis and Georgiou was brought in as ELSTAT chief in 2010 to overhaul the agency and improve its data.

In November 2010, shortly after he took over, the 2009 budget deficit was revised to more than 15 percent of gross domestic product from 13.6 percent, indicating the scale of Greece's fiscal derailment and deepening the country's crisis.

A senior prosecutor is expected to formally file the charges against Georgiou in the coming days following the recommendation on Tuesday. A further inquiry will be conducted before a trial is held, the court official said.

If convicted on charges of breach of faith - a crime that usually applies to those who embezzle or misuse public funds - Georgiou could face at least five years in jail.

Source: Reuters

Greek prosecutor 'to charge statistics chief over deficit' - Telegraph