Greek PM aide quits after casting doubt on neo-Nazi probe

Athens: A close aide of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras resigned Wednesday following a secretly taped discussion puportedly showing him casting doubt on an ongoing probe into neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn.

Panagiotis Baltakos, general secretary of Samaras`s cabinet, was filmed apparently having a discussion with Golden Dawn spokesman Ilias Kassidiaris, one of the many senior party cadres facing criminal charges. A voice resembling that of Kassidiaris can be heard on the video posted on Greek news sites and seen by AFP. Baltakos is shown saying that the Supreme Court prosecutor who finalised criminal charges against the group had been "persuaded" to do so by Justice Order Minister Haralambos Athanassiou and Citizen`s Protection Minister Nikos Dendias. "She was persuaded that (you) are pagans, Nazis and against Christianity," he tells Kasidiaris in a familiar tone. "(By) Athanassiou and Dendias." The Greek media said Kasidiaris released the video amid efforts by Golden Dawn to show that the judicial probe that has already placed one-third of the group`s lawmakers in pre-trial detention is politically motivated. Baltakos also dismissed the prime minister as a "bourgeois" who is "afraid" of Golden Dawn`s electoral influence but unable to grasp its appeal to voters. "I told him Golden Dawn will go to 20 percent, he called me a wanker," he says in the discussion. In his resignation letter published by the Greek media, Baltakos said he had frequent "coincidental" meetings with Golden Dawn lawmakers in parliament because his office "was close" to that party`s. "There is no reality in talk of a `plot`," Baltakos said. The blow for the government came as the tide had appeared to turn for the neo-Nazi party, which had massively boosted its strength in the past two years.