Members of the Greek Parliament were stunned to hear the governor of the Bank of Greece, Giorgos Provopoulos, saying that “a very senior member of the Agricultural Bank transferred money abroad and that there is an investigation going on on the issue. Some 8 to 10 million euro The transfer took place during the last months when Greece was suffering from political and economic instability.
Provopoulos made this revelations while he was speaking at the Economic Affairs Committee of the Greek Parliament about the recent bank deal, where private Piraeus Bank acquired the healthy assets of state Agricultural Bank of Greece (ATEBank).
“BoG received a complaint stating that a senior member of the Agricultural Bank, a very senior member, transferred money abroad during the last months,” Provopoulos said answering a relevant question posed by a Chrysi Avgi MP asked “Which member of ATE board sent 8 million euro abroad?”
According to state broadcaster NET website Provopoulos did not speak about the concrete amount of money, even though NET-reporter spoke of 8-10 million euro during the 4 pm -news.
“Immediately we proceeded to the relevant control checks. I can not talks about the findings of the investigation, but I assure you that they have been sent to the competent authorities to check the legality of the transfer,” Provopoulos added.
Piraeus Deal only Option for ATE
Provopoulos defended the PIRAEUS-ATE deal saying as “the only visible option.”
- ATE bank would not financially survive, as the ECD would stop liquidity of 6.3 billion euro “because the Bank could not survive”
- 5,000 people would become unemployed
- 14 billion euro should have been paid to depositors
- Loans to farmers only 13%
- 80% of customers for ‘leasing’ did not meet their obligations
- a total of 20 billion euro from public money would needed for a bank that would have to close anyway
He said further that the debts of the Greek political parties are transferred to Piraeus bank.
Meanwhile I hear from frustrated ATE share-holders claiming the state just grabbed their shares away. The bank had made a capital increase not too long ago and apparently some small share-holders jumped into the sinking ship – instead of jumping away.
PS Can you imagine it turns out the money transfer was legal? The “bigger scandal” to cover another scandal would be just a piece of cheese for hungry journalists and frustrated tax-payers. The latter were relieved to hear Provopoulos saved them from spending 20 billion euro to save ATE that was unable to be saved anyway… But some “scent” a much bigger scandal about a grave mismanagement and wonder whether somebody somewhere will be held responsible.
I’d be interested to know how he managed to transfer this amount anyhow, when I’m checked for money laundering if I just move €5000 from one bank account to another!
per pigeon transfer?lol just kidding. Of course, they check for money laundering but yet one can transfer as much as one wants after the clearance.