Agamemnon Koutsogiorgas ( el, Αγαμέμνων Κουτσόγιωργας; 192218 April 1991), commonly known as Menios Koutsogiorgas (Μένιος Κουτσόγιωργας), was a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
lawyer, police officer and politician. As a close associate of
Andreas Papandreou
Andreas Georgiou Papandreou ( el, Ανδρέας Γεωργίου Παπανδρέου, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics, known for founding the political party PASOK, ...
, the founder and leader of the
Panhellenic Socialist Movement
The Panhellenic Socialist Movement ( el, Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα, Panellínio Sosialistikó Kínima, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK, (; , ) is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012, it ...
(PASOK), Koutsogiorgas emerged as one of the most powerful cabinet member during PASOK's 1981–1989 government, and was widely regarded as Papandreou's heir apparent. Embroiled in the
George Koskotas
George Koskotas ( el, Γιώργος Κοσκωτάς; born 1953, Athens) is a former banker and publisher who spearheaded a financial scandal that brought down the PASOK government in 1989.
Early life
Koskotas was born in Greece on October 5, 19 ...
scandal however, he was brought before a Special Tribunal. During the procedure he collapsed in the court room on 11 April 1991 and died a week later.
Early life and professional career
Koutsogiorgas was born in May 1922 in the village of Rodini in
Achaea. During the
Axis Occupation of Greece in the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, Koutsogiorgas was active in the ''
Omiros''
resistance group, and was arrested and imprisoned by the Italian occupation authorities. He studied at the Law School of the
University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...
, and received his law degree in 1945. That same year, he became a police officer in the Athens branch of the
City Police. He served as a police officer for seven years, until he resigned in 1952, in order to become a lawyer and open his own law firm. In 1958 he obtained a postgraduate degree in
Public Law from the Law Faculty of the
University of Paris
, image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of Arms
, latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis
, motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin)
, mottoeng = Here and a ...
.
In the post-war era, he became a prominent Athens lawyer, and was closely associated with
Georgios Papandreou
Georgios Papandreou ( ''Geórgios Papandréou''; 13 February 1888 – 1 November 1968) was a Greek politician, the founder of the Papandreou political dynasty. He served three terms as prime minister of Greece (1944–1945, 1963, 1964–196 ...
, the leader of the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
and later of the
Centre Union
The Centre Union ( el, Ἕνωσις Κέντρου ''Énōsis Kéntrou'', abbreviated ΕΚ) was a major centrist political party in Greece, created in 1961 by Georgios Papandreou.Clogg, 1987, pp. 39–40
History
The Centre Union was a politica ...
. During the
ASPIDA scandal of 1965, he was defence attorney to the Georgios Papandreou's son,
Andreas Papandreou
Andreas Georgiou Papandreou ( el, Ανδρέας Γεωργίου Παπανδρέου, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics, known for founding the political party PASOK, ...
.
During the
Greek military junta of 1967–1974, Koutsogiorgas participated in attempts to organize armed resistance against the regime as early as 1967, and was arrested and imprisoned after arms and radio transmitters were discovered at his home. He was later released, but re-arrested in 1970 and held for a while, undergoing interrogation by the infamous
EAT-ESA.
Political career
As a close associate of Andreas Papandreou, Koutsogiorgas became a founding member of the
Panhellenic Socialist Movement
The Panhellenic Socialist Movement ( el, Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα, Panellínio Sosialistikó Kínima, ), known mostly by its acronym PASOK, (; , ) is a social-democratic political party in Greece. Until 2012, it ...
(PASOK) during the ''
metapolitefsi
The Metapolitefsi ( el, Μεταπολίτευση, , " regime change") was a period in modern Greek history
The history of Greece encompasses the history of the territory of the modern nation-state of Greece as well as that of the Greek peop ...
''.
He was elected Member of Parliament in the first national election that took place in November 1974 after the fall of the military government. He held a parliament seat for the prefecture of Achaea in all successive national elections until 1989. In the first PASOK cabinet, Koutsogiorgas was appointed Minister to the Presidency of the Government on 21 October 1981, a post he held until 17 January 1984, when he was named
Minister for the Interior
Minister may refer to:
* Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric
** Minister (Catholic Church)
* Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department)
** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...
. He held the post until resigning on 9 May 1985 before the
parliamentary elections, with the exception of the period 22 May – 21 June 1984, when he was replaced by an acting minister for the
European Parliament election
Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's.
Unti ...
.
During this time he played a major role in the March 1985 political crisis over the issue of the re-nomination of then-
President of Greece
The president of Greece, officially the President of the Hellenic Republic ( el, Πρόεδρος της Ελληνικής Δημοκρατίας, Próedros tis Ellinikís Dimokratías), commonly referred to in Greek as the President of the Rep ...
Constantine Karamanlis
Konstantinos G. Karamanlis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Γ. Καραμανλής, ; 8 March 1907 – 23 April 1998), commonly Anglicisation, anglicised to Constantine Karamanlis or just Caramanlis, was a four-time prime minister and List of he ...
for a second term. Papandreou had promised it several times, but the PASOK party base and Koutsogiorgas himself fiercely opposed it. Eventually, largely through Koutsogiorgas insistence PASOK proposed the judge
Christos Sartzetakis
Christos Sartzetakis ( el, Χρήστος Σαρτζετάκης; 6 April 1929 – 3 February 2022) was a Greek jurist and a supreme justice of the Court of Cassation, who served as the President of Greece from 1985 to 1990.
Early life and educ ...
for the post.
Following PASOK's electoral victory in the 1985 election, Koutsogiorgas was re-appointed Interior Minister on 5 June 1985. In the reshuffle of 26 July 1985, he assumed the
Public Order
In criminology, public-order crime is defined by Siegel (2004) as "crime which involves acts that interfere with the operations of society and the ability of people to function efficiently", i.e., it is behaviour that has been labelled criminal ...
portfolio as well, keeping it until 25 April 1986.
He remained Interior Minister until 5 February 1987, and on 23 September 1987, he was appointed
Vice-president of the Government and
Minister for Justice.
While popular with the broader PASOK electorate but lacking a strong party base, this appointment made him the ''de facto'' number two in the government. During Papandreou's illness in 1988 and his absence from Greece in August–September for a
heart bypass
Coronary artery bypass surgery, also known as coronary artery bypass graft (CABG, pronounced "cabbage") is a surgical procedure to treat coronary artery disease (CAD), the buildup of plaques in the arteries of the heart. It can relieve chest pai ...
operation in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
Koutsogiorgas functioned as the virtual Prime Minister.
At the same time however, he came under increasing criticism from the press and from within PASOK for his handling of the
George Koskotas
George Koskotas ( el, Γιώργος Κοσκωτάς; born 1953, Athens) is a former banker and publisher who spearheaded a financial scandal that brought down the PASOK government in 1989.
Early life
Koskotas was born in Greece on October 5, 19 ...
and his
Bank of Crete scandal, in particular over a
bank secrecy
Banking secrecy, alternately known as financial privacy, banking discretion, or bank safety,Guex (2000), p. 240 is a conditional agreement between a bank and its clients that all foregoing activities remain secure, confidential, and private. Mo ...
law that according to some critics would allow Koskotas to evade scrutiny. He continued to enjoy the support of Papandreou: although he was forced to quit the posts of vice-president of the Government and Justice Minister on 18 November 1988, he was re-appointed as Minister to the Presidency of the Government.
The mounting crisis peaked in March 1989, when audio tapes of conversations between Koskotas's wife and an associate of Koskotas (I.Matzouranis) were released by Koskotas who was already a fugitive and imprisoned in the US. The tapes purported to show that Koutsogiogras had received 2 million US dollars in a Swiss bank account for "tailoring" the bank secrecy law for Koskotas. Koutsogiorgas, denied these claims and accused Koskotas for attempting to blackmail the government at a time he was a fugitive from Greek law and government actions caused his fraudulent empire to crumble. Papandreou survived a vote of confidence in parliament, but Koutsogiorgas submitted his resignation on 16 March 1989.
The subsequent investigation showed that a close associate of Koskotas, I. Matzouranis, which used to be a member of the PASOK government and was connected with Koutsogiorgas had mediated in the fall of 1988 to open a bank account for Koutsogiorgas in Switzerland. After a couple of weeks he made a deposit of $1,2 million in that account. A few weeks later, Koutsogiorgas aware of the deposit turned the funds back to Matzouranis and closed the account. When those events were revealed in March 1989 Matzouranis claimed Koutsogiorgas was expecting the deposit. Koutsogiorgas claimed that the account was opened for personal reasons and that the specific deposit was an attempt to get him entrapped by Koskotas and Matzouranis at a critical juncture of the Koskotas case when his illegal activities were exposed. The details of these events remained unexamined as Koutsogiorgas died while defending himself during the proceedings in court.
On 18 May, the PASOK Central Committee voted against him standing as a candidate during the
June 1989 parliamentary elections until the investigation on the Bank of Crete case was complete.
On 27 September, in a Parliament vote Koutsogiorgas along with
Andreas Papandreou
Andreas Georgiou Papandreou ( el, Ανδρέας Γεωργίου Παπανδρέου, ; 5 February 1919 – 23 June 1996) was a Greek economist, politician and a dominant figure in Greek politics, known for founding the political party PASOK, ...
,
Dimitris Tsovolas
Dimitris Tsovolas ( el, Δημήτριος Τσοβόλας; 4 September 1942 – 25 February 2022) was a Greek politician who served as Minister of Finance from 1985 to 1989.
Early life and education
Tsovolas was born at Melissourgoi, a village ...
and
Giorgos Petsos were sent to a Special Tribunal set up to investigate the Koskotas scandal. In a move that at the time was criticized as politicized and excessive, the 68-year-old Koutsogiorgas, alone among the accused, was placed into pre-trial custody at
Korydallos prison
Korydallos Prison Complex is Greece's largest jail and contains the country's main maximum-security prison (Type B), housing both maximum-security men and women. It is located in Korydallos, Piraeus. Famous detainees include members of the anarc ...
on 2 October 1990. The move was supported by the new Mitsotakis (ND) government who had been elected just a few months before on a ticket of battling alleged corruption by the Socialist party. Koutsogiorgas immediately appealed this decision, taking his case to the Athens Appellate Court's Appeals Council; his appeal was successful, and he was released from pre-trial detention and set free on 10 January 1991.
The trial began in a heavily politicized atmosphere on 11 March 1991, broadcast on live television. Koutsogiorgas stood his ground and his examination of prosecution witness Ioannis Kamaras (chief auditor of the
Bank of Greece) exposed many flaws in the prosecution's case.
[Τα Νέα, 22 Απριλίου 1991] On 11 April, while examining a witness (Stathis Papageorgiou, former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Greece), Koutsogiorgas collapsed in the courtroom and died seven days later. His funeral gathered large crowds in the center of Athens and developed into a political protest against the continuing proceedings of the Special Tribunal. The later was seen by a large part of the press and the population as politically motivated and a result of partisan politics.
Family
Menios Koutsogiorgas was married to Aliki Koutsogiorga and had three children. His brother, Praxitelis (Telis) Koutsogiorgas was a General of the
Greek Gendarmerie
The Hellenic Gendarmerie (, ''Elliniki Chorofylaki'') was the national gendarmerie and military police (until 1951) force of Greece.
History
19th century
The Greek Gendarmerie was established after the enthronement of King Otto in 1833 as the ...
.
Honours and decorations
* Grand Officier of the ''
Ordre national du Mérite
The Ordre national du Mérite (; en, National Order of Merit) is a French order of merit with membership awarded by the President of the French Republic, founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle. The reason for the order's estab ...
'', French Republic
* Grand
Decoration of Honour
Decoration may refer to:
* Decorative arts
* A house painter and decorator's craft
* An act or object intended to increase the beauty of a person, room, etc.
* An award that is a token of recognition to the recipient intended for wearing
Other ...
in Gold with Sash (''Großes Goldenes Ehrenzeichen am Bande''), Republic of Austria
* Knight of the
Order of Prince Henry (''Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique''), Republic of Portugal
* Commandery with Star of the
Order of Merit of the People's Republic of Poland
*
Order of the Nile
The Order of the Nile (''Kiladat El Nil'') was established in 1915 and was one of the Kingdom of Egypt's principal orders until the monarchy was abolished in 1953. It was then reconstituted as the Republic of Egypt's highest state honor.
Sultana ...
, Arab Republic of Egypt
* Grand Cross of the Republic of Cyprus
* Grand Cross of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople
* Medal for the National Resistance (1941–44), Hellenic Republic
References
External links
National Audiovisual Archive: Funeral of former Minister Agamemnon Koutsogiorgas, Εθνικό Οπτικοακουστικό Αρχείο, «Τεκμήριο D1733, Θέμα Τ4170: Κηδεία του πρώην Υπουργού Αγαμέμνονα Κουτσόγιωργα»
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koutsogiorgas, Menios
1922 births
1991 deaths
Eastern Orthodox Christians from Greece
PASOK politicians
Deputy Prime Ministers of Greece
MPs of Achaea
Greek Resistance members
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni
Ministers of the Interior of Greece
Justice ministers of Greece
Ministers of Public Order of Greece
People from Achaea
Greek expatriates in France