Chris Avramidis stated that he asked the Greek government about reports from the Daily Mail and the Wall Street Journal regarding Ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle and AKTOR lobbyist Christos Marafatsos. According to what he cited from the Daily Mail, Guilfoyle allegedly requested $250,000 from Greek businessmen to pay off her luxury Mercedes. The Wall Street Journal, as he mentioned, wrote that the paid lobbyist Marafatsos accompanied the ambassador to official government meetings, without the interlocutors always knowing which company he represented. Avramidis said he asked government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis who the businessmen were, whether they had transactions with the public sector, which meetings with ministers the lobbyist participated in, and whether possible conflicts of interest would be checked. According to the journalist, Marinakis replied that the issue did not fall under the government's competencies, accused him of adopting the reports, and referred him to the press offices of the ministries. Avramidis added that the government spokesman said the government could neither dismiss nor adopt the reports. The journalist argued that the questions regarding the lobbyist's meetings with ministers, whether they knew which company he represented, and whether the contacts for potential conflicts of interest would be examined remained unanswered. #Ελλάδα #πολιτική #δημοσιογραφία (translated)
