CONFUSION reigned yesterday as to how those guilty for the Helios air disaster could be brought to justice, in the wake of the Attorney-general’s comment that it would be difficult to prosecute anyone.
Critics say the government botched things when it appointed an independent commission of inquiry last May, at a time when the report on the causes on the accident was not even out yet.
The remit of the commission, headed by ex-Supreme Court judge Panayiotis Kallis, was always hazy. The broad impression – now dispelled – was that it would establish liability (not criminal) for the crash and that, once completed, it would be used as a springboard for criminal prosecution.
However, it has now emerged that the commission has no legal weight and its conclusions are not binding on authorities.
A police investigation is currently under way in conjunction with the commission’s hearings, raising questions as to which body is supposed to do what.
Moreover, it has cast a shadow on the commission’s raison d’?tre.
For months now, the bereaved relatives of the victims have seen the commission as an outlet for their frustration. Helios, the embattled airline, views it as a trial by media and a witch hunt.
The company is hinting that the reason for the crash was a combination of pilot error – noted in the Tsolakis report as the primary cause – and faulty aircraft parts.
Deficiencies at Helios and the Civil Aviation Authority, while “latent causes” of the crash, did not contribute directly to the accident, Tsolakis’ report concluded.
“Kallis’ committee is not a court,” Attorney-general Petros Clerides said earlier in the week.
“Neither the Tsolakis report nor the Kallis conclusions can lead to a criminal case without an investigation by the police.”
But he added the official report of Greek investigator Akrivos Tsolakis was useful to the police because it could point them in the right direction.
Weighing in, President Papadopoulos remarked: “No one apart from the courts has the power to take a decision on whether someone is guilty or not.”
Yet the question of why Kallis’ commission was set up in the first place lingers.
Last August, days after the accident, Papadopoulos had clearly stated that appointing a body tasked with apportioning responsibility made no sense before the verdict was in on the causes of the crash.
Yet it was only in May – just ten days before the parliamentary elections – that the Cabinet gave the green light for the establishment of Kallis’ commission.
Some observers feel the administration caved in to pressure and to assuage the relatives’ – and the public’s – desire for justice.
The relatives, though pleased with the completion of the fact-finding report, are worried that Clerides’ comment points to a whitewash.
“121 people were murdered in the air,” said Nicolas Yiasoumis, a spokesman for the relatives.
“The strange thing is [that] it was the Cabinet who appointed the [Kallis] commission. Could they not have foreseen these complications?”
He also hinted that Clerides’ remarks might prejudice the police investigation.
Government spokesman Christodoulos Pashiardis yesterday strove to do some damage control, noting that Clerides was merely stating a fact.
“The serving of justice presupposes the existence of specific suspects and make indictments.
“The mandate of the [Kallis] commission is to establish potential criminal, disciplinary or administrative liability. But it will merely note where such liabilities lie. From then on, it is up to authorities to investigate specific charges.
“We just cannot start rounding up people,” he quipped.
And Transport Minister Harris Thrassou added the commission’s workings did not conflict with the ongoing police investigation.
Asked why the police investigation was postponed earlier in the year only for it to resume now, Thrassou said authorities were waiting for the accident report to come out.
“Otherwise, they would have nothing to go on, so there was no point in continuing it,” he offered.
Helios says the relatives were thrown a bone to keep them happy for the time being, while all the time the government knew that the Kallis commission would amount to nothing.
This view is shared by George Papaioannou, a lawyer for civil aviation workers, who told Radio Proto relatives were being appeased by the authorities because of their need to feel someone would be punished for their grief.
On Thursday, Papaioannou told the Mail: “It seems the impression being given to the relatives is that the crash is due to loopholes in the civil aviation or due to the problems with the particular aircraft. This, I believe, is not true, because I saw the report and it seems it’s a human error.”
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