SYRIZA has set its sights on Deputy Minister of Agricultural Development Makarios Lazaridis in recent hours, following a confrontation between the government official and Pavlos Polakis regarding whether he holds a university degree and if the information in his CV is truthful.
According to SYRIZA officials, the new Deputy Minister of Agricultural Development, Makarios Lazaridis, “who was rewarded for his ‘work’ in the investigative committee parody for the OPEKEPE scandal, is trying through deception to present himself as holder of a university degree that doesn’t exist! Thus deceiving public opinion in a provocative manner.”
The same sources emphasize that Makarios Lazaridis previously worked as a journalist at “Eleftheri Ora,” something they point out he concealed from the CV posted on Parliament’s website. Instead, SYRIZA officials note, the deputy minister appears to have studied “journalism and political science at the College of Southeastern Europe.”
In fact, both Pavlos Polakis and other members of SYRIZA’s documentation team conducted internet searches, revealing that no such university degree exists. “Therefore, Makarios Lazaridis is referring to some vocational training institute and not a University! From which he doesn’t have a ‘degree,’ but a simple certificate of studies, which is in no way equivalent to a University degree,” they characteristically state.
It should be noted that the Free Studies Laboratory of the College of Southeastern Europe has been at the center of serious allegations for issuing “fake” degrees, which were never recognized or equivalent to higher education institution degrees. However, Koumoundourou officials don’t stop there. They say that based on his CV, Mr. Lazaridis has omitted mentioning his hiring, according to law 2190/1994, on January 16, 2007, by then Education Minister Marietta Giannakou, as a specialist scientist at the General Secretariat for Youth. For this specific position, the required qualifications explicitly included holding a higher education degree or equivalent domestic or foreign study title. In conclusion, SYRIZA officials say that, beyond the major ethical issue, the question arises: “Why did he choose to hide this crucial position from his official CV? Was he illegally hired for the specialist scientist position by then Education Minister Marietta Giannakou?” And they conclude by emphasizing: “If Mr. Lazaridis doesn’t provide proof, it’s clear he attempted to mislead through his CV and reached the ministerial position through fraud. Excellent as right hand and beloved child of Mr. Mitsotakis. If Mr. Lazaridis has lied and doesn’t actually possess a recognized university degree, Mr. Mitsotakis has only one choice: to dismiss Mr. Lazaridis here and now. A persistent liar cannot remain in a ministry. He won’t just be a liar, but also a persistent law violator and public money embezzler. And find another (equally) ‘excellent’ person who will undertake to explain why the ‘blue’ OPEKEPE embezzlement scandal is a ‘chronic pathology.'”
It should be recalled that in recent hours, Pavlos Polakis through social media posts asked the minister to post his high school diploma, as well as “the certificate of studies from the Kato Panagia vocational institute, to see when you ‘studied,’ for what period and with what content??? Did you do ‘Political Science’?? Did you do ‘journalism’? Or both? Or nothing?”
In fact, Pavlos Polakis went yesterday outside the address declared by the aforementioned vocational institute and based on the photo he posted on Facebook, an old apartment building is located at the site.
