Greek parliament charges ex-ministers over scandal

Greece's parliament charged three former ministers with fraud on Wednesday in a scandal over land swaps between the state and a wealthy monastery which helped bring down the former conservative government.

All three, members of the conservative government which ruled in 2004-2009, have denied any wrongdoing. Lawmakers also decided against the socialist party's proposal to indict two more conservative ministers.

Punishing politicians involved in past scandals is key for the Socialist government as it tries to impose harsh austerity measures on a public angry with chronic corruption and to pull Greece out of a debt crisis which has shaken the euro zone.

"Parliament decided to charge former ministers Evaggelos Basiakos and Alexandros Kontos, and former deputy minister Petros Doukas," said parliament speaker Fillipos Petsalnikos.

A five-member court panel is expected to decide whether those charged will be referred to a special court.

"Nowhere in the world has a minister been prosecuted for being lawful and for approving unanimous proposals by institutional bodies," Doukas told lawmakers.

The scandal — in which a wealthy monastery received state-owned real estate in exchange for cheap rural land — shocked Greece, where the Orthodox Church represents more than 90 percent of the 11 million population.

The Vatopedi monastery, one of the largest in northern Greece's all-male monastic community of Mount Athos, has denied any wrongdoing.

Although no money changed hands, local media had said the state lost 100 million euros worth of land in the property swap.