A Greek diplomat in Stockholm was recalled to Athens after claiming Swedish women often cried rape falsely, media said yesterday, amid outrage at reports of discrimination against Swedes in rape cases in Greece.

Vassilios Bakalis, the head of economic and commercial affairs at the Greek embassy in Stockholm, was reportedly ordered back to Athens shortly after the publication late Friday of an e-mail he had written accusing Swedish women of using fake rape allegations to make money.

Swedes “should be ashamed of the behaviour of Swedish women, on vacation at any part of the world (sic) and with foreign residents in their own country,” Bakalis wrote in the e-mail published by commercial broadcaster TV4.

“Plenty of taxi drivers in Stockholm have warned me not to take drunk Swedish women to my apartment as there is a high probability ‘they will sue you for rape to get insurance money after they wake up in the morning and realise who you are’.”

The e-mail was a response to an angry message Bakalis received following reports that Greek authorities had decided not to press charges on behalf of a Swedish woman who alleged she was raped during a vacation on the Greek island of Samos in 2008.

Although the woman was examined shortly after the alleged rape at a Swedish hospital where doctors confirmed she had suffered a serious sexual attack, Greek authorities reportedly have decided to try her for false testimony and slander.