Tag Archives: scandal

A scandal? Oh, dear! One more, one less does not make any difference in this country of Greeks and cheerful orange trees. Really. Honestly. Simos Kedikoglou, minister in charge of media, got a girl friend. “So what?” one should ask. “So nothing,” one should answer. If it wasn’t this juicy …

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Greeks were literally stunned on Wednesday to hear prime minister Antonis Samaras speaking on television. No, they didn’t stun to hear that the Value Added Tax in catering will be lowered from 23% down to 13% as of 1. Agust 2013. They were stunned to hear the prime minister saying …

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German Railways (Deutsche Bahn) shut down its office in Athens due to a bribe scandal, German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reports on Tuesday. Citing investigation findings from the prosecutor’s office in Frankfurt, SD notes that “Deutsche Bahn subsidiary in Greece is said to have “diverted” 315,000 euro to bribe contract givers.” …

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A cooordinated effort by investigative journalists in 46 countries reveal the well-kept secrets of the rich. I mean “well-kept” until recently. Then now, the identities of 1,000 holders of anonymous wealth hidden in offshore- and tax-paradises have been exposed. And this seems to be only the start of a broader …

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A major political earthquake shakes Cyprus after a list containing names and written-off loans by banks was handed out to the Parliament. Politicians from three major parties and government officials took loans from the Bank of Cyprus and Cyprus Popular Bank (Laiki) and had them written-off after having paid back …

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Bank depositors will have to finance 60% of  the 10-billion-euro bailout for Cyprus agreed between European Union and International Monetary Fund in Brussels in the early morning hours of Saturday. Eurozone ministers force depositors at Cypriot banks to pay a one time levy to raise  6 billion euros. The so-called “emergency …

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Greek Food Control Agency (EFET) order the withdrawal of seven meat products after testes proved they contained horse DNA. The products are salami, sausages, kebab and frozen meatballs, produced in Northern Greece and Crete or imported from the Netherlands ( company NL 687 EG* distributed via German DEMKA) and Romania (company LeFruMarine S.R.L.). As the products …

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Greek National Food Control Authority announced Friday that two more tested samples of “beef” were found to contain horse DNA. The first sample was found in minced meat ‘kebab’ prepared by a local producer, while the second sample was found in salami imported from Holland. Both samples were taken from …

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Despite the economic crisis, the revenues missing the targets and the millions of citizens hardly making ends meet, there is always money for party officials and Greece’s “friends”. A copy from the Government Newspaper, the official press organ where government decisions are published, appeared on Tuesday afternoon on Greek internet. …

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Yuck! The horsemeat scandal gets more and more disgusting. Not that eating “anonymous” horses for beef would be less disgusting… Famous horse Synchronised, Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse, a specialist in long-distance steeplechaser, was euthanized after an injury and apparently disposed for horsemeat. “The owner of a slaughterhouse that disposes of horses …

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The issue of further lowering the minimum wage in Greece takes tragicomic features. Not only because the government reassures through Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras, that there won’t be any further lowering below €586 gross (€480 net) per month, even though EU Monetary commissioner Olli Rehn said a revision was planned …

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Supermarket chain Carrefour/Marinopoulos removed two products from its deep fridges on suspicion they contain horse meat. The products “Lasagna Bolognese” Carefour, 1kilo and “Cannelloni Bolognese” Carrefour, 600 gr have been manufacturing internationally on behalf of Carrefour by French Comigel. ” French food firm Comigel manufactures the Findus lasagnes found to contain …

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Irelands’ “number one” burger producer suspended production after after tests showed that horsemeat was found in firm’s raw material ingredients. Ireland’s agriculture department confirmed the findings pointing the finger at Poland as the country of origin for the raw materials. Irish beefburger producer Rangeland Foods has customers in the UK, Greece, Belgium, Sweden, …

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I have been trying to make a clue about the infamous Lagarde list and the much too many usb memory sticks that have been copied and recopied again and again the assistants of government officials and “even destroyed”, according to the latest testimony by the former heads of Financial Crimes Units …

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A fraud attempt to extract almost 150,000 euro from Greek National Tourism Organization lead to the arrest of five people, including a former special adviser to ex-GNTO general secretary Nikos Karachalios. The fraud was disclosed when last Friday a woman tried to get a payment for a cheque bearing allegedly …

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There is an interesting development in the Greece- SIEMENS bribes scandal coming from Germany. According to a report by Sueddeutsche Zeitung/The Local.de, Greek judiciary is to pursue elven executives of SIEMENS on charges of bribing Greek politicians and public officials. Moreover Greece plans even to issue an international arrest warrant …

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The e-mail sent by German Finance Ministry State Secretary Thomas Steffen landed in the inbox of Greek Finance Ministry last Saturday, Greek media report. In an unprecedented attack of self-complacent and arrogance, Germany was asking Greeks to create an escrow account into which Lenders’ loan tranches but also Greece’s revenues from …

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This morning I wrote about Troikans being paranoid with a disease developing at full speed. Just hours later, my prediction came true. It’s all over the Greek press, that the Troika suggested that Greeks residing on islands with less than 150 inhabitants should be relocated somewhere else! This insane demand was allegedly …

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 No, it’s not a typo, but it’s certainly the joke of the next four centuries! Greece’s biggest insurance fund IKA found a very generous way to help a private company to pay outstanding debts in social security contributions. The company will have the possibility to pay to IKA 300,000 euro in 4,700 …

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 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 …

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