Theodoros Pantalakis, former Chairman and Governor of state Agricultural Bank, ATE, saw no wrongdoing in transferring 8 million euros abroad. He told Sunday newspaper Real News, the money he transferred abroad was the family’s savings after tax deduction. The family wanted to buy a property in London therefore the transfer, the ex CEO said. Pantalakis told media, that he had even informed the authorities about the transfer. Last Friday, governor of Bank of Greece, Giorgos Provopoulos told the Economic Affairs Committee of the Parliament that a very senior member of ATEBank had transferred money abroad during the last months.
“Pantalakis issue” scandalizes international media
A political row has erupted in Athens after the former head of a big Greek state bank admitted to transferring 8 million euros ($9.9 million) of personal savings abroad to buy a London property months before his Agricultural Bank headed towards insolvency.Theodoros Pantalakis, former chief executive of Greece’s Agricultural Bank (ATEbank), strongly denied any wrongdoing, telling Realnews, a Greek website, that he had declared the transaction to authorities in 2011 and had paid tax on the amount transferred, CNBC reported citing F.T.
“I’m on holiday and I don’t plan to say anything more until I come back to Athens,” Mr. Pantalakis told the FT from his villa on the Aegean island of Paros. He is expected to testify on his three years at the helm of ATEbank before a parliamentary committee at the end of August, said a person with knowledge of the dispute.
“Nobody has suggested Mr. Pantalakis sent the funds abroad illegally … But there is clearly an ethical issue since he was serving as the head of a big state bank at time of financial and economic crisis,” said a Greek banker who declined to be identified.
A government official said Greece came under pressure from the European Commission and European Central Bank [cnbc explains] to split ATEbank into a “good” and a “bad” bank and sell its healthy assets. “The alternative they gave us was to shut it down with the loss of 5,500 jobs,” the official said.
The decision was criticized by Syriza, the radical left main opposition party, as a “great robbery”.Alexis Tsipras, party leader, said he would reverse the privatization if he came to power, adding it had only benefited “bankrupt private bankers”. ATEbank employees staged rolling strikes last week in protest against the takeover.
Mr. Pantalakis will face questions from opposition lawmakers over 150 million euro in loans made by ATEbank to New Democracy and the PanHellenic Socialist Movement, Greece’s two biggest mainstream parties. These loans were insufficiently collateralized and remained unserviced while he ran the bank, analysts said. (via capital.gr)
Oh well he bought his 8 million Euro property in London. Bad luck for the 5,500 jobless ex ATE bank employees. He says he will be back after he finishes his Pina Colada on his Villa in the Aegean. While thousands of Greek people are starving and living off Bread and olives.
I read a book not recently it contains phrases from Confucius. And this particular one struck me or fascinated me.
In Confucian idealism, a man does not participate in an organisation or cause that he does not believe is reasonable and just. Once he truly believes it is right, however, a man should not abandon a course of action even if it brings him hardship and peril.
Confucius said that it is a disgrace to be rich and honored in an unjust state, knowing that your people are suffering and hungry.
es ATe bank employees ar enot jobless, they got compensation form ATe and got hired by Piraeus bank. I wish I could secure such a good deal as well.
Confusius also said: “When nobody obeys, nobody rules”.
Given the total contempt with which establisments like banks and political parties treat the common people, it is in my opinion high time to start “not obeying”.
The combination of these 2 types of criminal organisations has blatantly obviously established one thing, the intended tranfer of wealth from the many to the few, by all means possible.As we all know, with government comes favouratism, where governement is supposed to be a public service. It is nothing of the kind, it is organised thievery, and happily fascilitated by the other master of that art, banks. Thievery executed by a government that will, if need be, vote in “rules and laws” to justify the thievery they intend to execute…time to say enough and take back our lives.