An appellate-level Athens prosecutor has ordered a further investigation into the case concerning an undeclared €3.2 million by the president of the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), the largest trade umbrella group in Greece.

Longtime GSEE President Giannis Panagopoulos is alleged not to have declared the sum in his annual asset declaration statement. The latter declarations are obligatory for officeholders, certain top public servants and members of the judiciary in Greece, among others.

The relevant prosecutor’s order essentially overturns a previous decision by a first instance prosecutor last week to shelve the case.

According to the order, the case should be further investigated to determine whether Panagopoulos was obliged to submit such an asset declaration due to his role as president of GSEE and a handful of its affiliated institutes, which received national and EU funding for employee training programs.

According to reports over the weekend, the first-instance prosecutor had proposed shelving the case, taking into account two legal opinions submitted by Panagopoulos: one from GSEE’s legal service and another from a private law firm.

‘I had no obligation to submit an asset declaration’

“According to legislative provisions introduced by various governments and based on legal opinions I have from leading legal experts, I had no obligation to submit an asset declaration,” Panagopoulos stated recently in an interview with the state-run broadcaster ERT.

He added that “two months have passed and I still have not received the report from the anti-money laundering authority, on the basis of which I was publicly criticized,” he added.