2 Greek ministers resign after meeting with media mogul

ATHENS

Two Greek ministers resigned on Thursday after news of their meeting with one of the country’s most prominent media moguls Evangelos Marinakis surfaced.

“Minister of State Stavros Papastavrou and Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Yiannis Bratakos submitted their resignations to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis,” said a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office.

Mitsotakis thanked them for their work and accepted their resignations, the statement added.

Public broadcaster ERT said the government maintained that the “ministers’ participating in a social event sent a wrong message,” without openly disclosing Marikanis’ name.

Numerous news outlets such as daily Avgi and Documento, however, said the "social event” was in fact the meeting with Marikanis.

Apart from Lambrakis Press Group, which includes some of the country’s most-selling newspapers, Marikanis owns a big fleet of freighters and LNG ships, and Greek football club Olympiacos and English team Nottingham Forest.