ATHENS – Greece’s Culture Ministry reversed a decision to take a donation from a private foundation that was tied to a gang rape allegation at a New Year’s Eve party in the country’s second-largest city and major port Thessaloniki.

The contribution – the amount wasn’t given – came from the International Foundation for Greece (IFG) was for a new museum and other work at the Archaeological Site of Delos, said Kathimerini.

It was a swift reaction to the news that a prosecutor had directed a probe into the claim made by a 24-year-old woman she was sexually assaulted at a party at a hotel, one of the chief suspects said to be a member of IFG’s board and from the family which founded it.

The ministry’s decision came after the major opposition SYRIZA – which moved to make rape a lesser crime while ruling – said that that any links between the suspect and efforts to revamp Delos “will prompt significant developments that the Culture Minister must respond to.”

Delos, a protected island in the Aegean Sea, was the spiritual center of the ancient Greek world and is one of the country’s most important archaeological sites.

The Culture Ministry’s repeal of the Dec. 31, 2021 decision to accept the IFG donation will be formally published in the Government Gazette, it said.