A copy of the investigation file into the politically charged Vatopedi monastery land exchange furor was sent on Wednesday to Parliament President Dimitris Sioufas, a necessary prerequisite for opening any Parliamentary procedure into whether or not criminal acts were committed by MPs holding immunity, i.e. Cabinet ministers.

A judicial inquiry into the affair will continue, however.

On his part, a main opposition PASOK spokesman said the development was "vindication" for the party, while he called on all deputies in the 300-MP legislature to vote in favor of establishing a preliminary committee to investigate any wrongdoing.

Spokesman George Papaconstantinou also claimed that the development comes after pressure by PASOK and lawsuits against a pair of high-ranking Supreme Court prosecutors.

The government and PASOK have traded charges and counter-charges over the affair, which involves a series of reportedly questionable land exchanges between the Mount Athos monastery and the state.

Meanwhile, in a related development and hours later, in a letter by chief Supreme Court prosecutor George Sanidas to the head of the first instance courts' prosecutor, Kyriakos Karoutsos, the former emphasises that "no evidence has so far been collected to point to criminal liability on the part of ministers."

Conversely, Karoutsos' document to Sioufas includes a letter by appellate prosecutor Efstathia Spyropoulou towards her superiors, in which she reaches an opposing conclusion