Greek PM slams "blackmail" over sex DVD scandal

By Dina Kyriakidou

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis vowed on Friday not to give in to what he called blackmail of his government over a sex DVD scandal that has rocked his administration and pushed back his reform agenda.

Just months after his re-election on pledges to fight graft, he has been attacked by the opposition and the press for his conservative government's role in the affair involving possible blackmail of a former senior culture ministry official.

"I am determined to do whatever it takes to rescue the country from this sick atmosphere, this foul mood," he told parliament, where he was called by opposition parties. "This government does not blackmail and is not blackmailed."

Karamanlis has seen some of his top aides being dragged before prosecutors to testify in a case of suspected blackmail that opposition parties say reaches as high as his office.

Last month, former culture ministry general secretary Christos Zachopoulos resigned and then tried to kill himself after an apparent attempt by an angry lover to blackmail him with a sex tape.

Zachopoulos, 54, who is slowly recovering in hospital, turned out to be close to Karamanlis and had extensive financial and political powers, which prosecutors are now investigating.

Then the head of Karamanlis's press office, Yannis Andrianos, gave prosecutors a DVD which police say shows sex scenes of Zachopoulos and a 35-year-old female assistant.

Greek media paint a picture of a desperate woman who slept with her boss because he promised her a permanent position and then was let down. She has been charged with blackmail and is being held pending trial but denies the charge.