Image via Wikipedia - “Since the story was published there have been many new developments.
- During the Confidence Vote on Nov, 3, main opposition New Democracy MP Panos Kammenos revealed that the failed Belgian bank DEXIA, in collaboration with his brother Andreas Papandreou and the company that Andreas works at UNIGESTION, placed a huge sum of money in the fluctuation of Euro/Swedish Krona just days before George Papandreou announced the referendum and markets went haywire! Click here for that story
- An Austrian MP bluntly asked the EU to take action on this matter while asking them if the Commission know about these accusations, if it has responded or how will it respond and what does it propose to do about them? Click here for that story.
- On other hand, Panos Kammenos who first surfaced this story (along with Tobras and Noulas read further below) is presently being sued by George Papandreou's brother Andreas for claiming that Andreas is part of a company in Switzerland that gives advice to people who want to invest in CDS -coincidence-... In a recent and much talked about radio interview he gives details about the “suspicious” dealings of the I4cense institute and the role of the Greek Prime Minister's brother Andreas in this company. He also notes that most of the people associated with this company are former employees of George Soros. Click here for that story.
- Finally, the “suspicious” dealings of the I4cense institute “www.i4cense.org” –and the involvement of the brother of the Greek prime minister ‘Andreas Papandreou’ in this institute- has “somehow” gone unnoticed by the Greek mainstream media, but it made headlines in the Swiss daily "LaLiberte" The article entitled “Greek Salad" talks about a family business, its location and features a grand photo, of none other, than Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou. (click here for that story). "
Our fears that the government of George Papandreou purposely led Greece to the world banking cartel are becoming more and more evident everyday. Leaving aside the obvious questions of criminality and treason that have come to light from the details of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Greek government and the Troika (IMF/EU/ECB) -that concede total sovereign authority of the Greek state over the fate of its own citizens to foreign banks for a moment- let us turn to recent allegations made in Parliament against the Prime Minister of Greece himself, Papandreou by parliamentary MP for the main opposition New Democracy party Panos Kammenos.
Before you begin reading this article, I just want to add that I wanted to post this information on hellasfrappe for a couple of weeks now, but due to the sensitivity of the issue, I wanted to wait until more information came to light. I think the following article will astound you, as I have amassed as much information as I can on the subject, including yesterday’s analysis by economist Max Keiser on this very subject. I warn you… the allegations are very serious, and if proven true then I foresee all hell braking loose in Greece.
Kammenos calls Papandreou a "broker" and accuses him of treason on air!
An article on the coveringdelta.wordpress.com site maintains that in accordance to a recent interview on Greek television (Extra Channel and Kontra Channel), parliamentary MP for the main opposition New Democracy party Panos Kammenos, made allegations that if true, could very well constitute treason for the Greek Prime Minister, members of his staff and possibly members of his own family. These allegations were repeated by Kammenos on the floor of parliament and given support by the leader of LAOS, George Karatzaferis. These allegations are therefore, not made lightly, and have now been plainly put forth before the Greek people. They can no longer be ignored, and the Prime Minister is obliged to respond to them. (the link of the story can be found here (http://coveringdelta.wordpress.com ).
The gist of the allegations rests on the charge by Kammenos, that the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and members of his team, presided over the sale of 1.3 billion dollars worth of credit default swap contracts (CDS on Greek sovereign debt) on or around December of 2009, shortly after coming to power. The 1.3 billion dollars worth of insurance protecting against a Greek default was bought during the spring and summer of the same year, by the Hellenic Postbank, a public banking arm of the Greek government. It is unclear what the intentions of the Postbank were when it purchased the credit protection. Clearly, the previous government that was in power at the time (New Democracy or N.D.) understood that Greece headed towards a fiscal crisis, otherwise they would not have purchased the insurance. However, we do not know if the move was initially made with the intention of reaping private profit, or simply as a hedge by the government itself against it’s own default.
[*Note: There seems to be a discrepancy between the numbers cited by Mr. Kammenos and those cited by Mr. Tobras (story follows further down) in his law suit. Specifically, the subject at issue is the notional value of the CDS purchased and then sold by Hellenic Postbank. The size of the bank's balance sheet would not warrant as large a hedge as the 60 billion in notional CDS (implied by Kammenos), which would imply that either the bank was net-short it's own government's debt, or that some mistake has been made by those looking over the books. After a bit of contemplation, I find the 1.3bn dollar notional number (the total amount insured against) more plausible, though this would suggest an accounting error on Mr. Kammenos' part. This would affect the profit potential for the position, but would not change the fundamental fact that insurance protection was sold from public to private hands. - i.e. it has no bearing on the allegations].
Leaving this uncertainty aside for now, we know that, so long as the credit protection remained at the Hellenic Postbank of Greece, the CDS contracts would function as insurance against the type of “credit events” that would transpire over the following twelve months. Indeed, the very insurance that was being held in public coffers by the Hellenic Postbank, is today worth approximately 27 billion dollars according to numbers cited by Kammenos on multiple occasions. Considering that Greece is now under duress to raise collateral for its “bailout” money, 27 billion dollars would go a long way towards preventing the privatization and sale of the nation’s assets to foreigners (this figure assumes a partial default and subsequent payout). Unfortunately, the Greek government is no longer in possession of this 27 billion worth of CDS, because it sold them in December of 2009, for a paltry 40 million dollar profit. According the Mr. Kammenos, the contracts were sold to a private firm for “high net-worth individuals” founded in 2009, by the name of IJ Partners.
Leaving this uncertainty aside for now, we know that, so long as the credit protection remained at the Hellenic Postbank of Greece, the CDS contracts would function as insurance against the type of “credit events” that would transpire over the following twelve months. Indeed, the very insurance that was being held in public coffers by the Hellenic Postbank, is today worth approximately 27 billion dollars according to numbers cited by Kammenos on multiple occasions. Considering that Greece is now under duress to raise collateral for its “bailout” money, 27 billion dollars would go a long way towards preventing the privatization and sale of the nation’s assets to foreigners (this figure assumes a partial default and subsequent payout). Unfortunately, the Greek government is no longer in possession of this 27 billion worth of CDS, because it sold them in December of 2009, for a paltry 40 million dollar profit. According the Mr. Kammenos, the contracts were sold to a private firm for “high net-worth individuals” founded in 2009, by the name of IJ Partners.
IJ Partners, based in Geneva, has a number of well-known Greeks who serve as either managing partners or members of the board, including former IMF economist Miranda Xafa (who intermediated Greece’s dealings with the IMF), former CEO of Piraeus Bank (one of the banks named in a law suit as shorting Greek government bonds during the period in question) and Theodore Margellos, the well-known exporter who was accused of falsely passing off imported corn from Kosovo as Greek produce several years ago. According to Kammenos’ accusations, the firm’s Vice President, Jose-Maria-Figueres, shares board membership on a separate NGO with none other than the Prime Minister’s own brother Andreas Papandreou Jr.
Unfortunately it gets worse, around the time that the Hellenic Postbank of Greece sold the CDS in question, the Prime Minister’s office was consulting with the International Monetary Fund about how to proceed with the notorious 110 billion Greek bailout plans. News of these discussions had not yet become public, and the Prime Minister had yet to address parliament on the matter. In addition to this, credit markets had yet to uncover the extent of the impairment to Greece’s national balance sheet as the country’s bonds were still trading at below 200 basis points (spreads) from German bunds.
In practical terms, this meant that anyone fortunate enough to have bought Greek CDS during this period would be in a position to make an absolute fortune. It also means that anyone who owned, or had a stake in Greek CDS stood to benefit directly from either a Greek default, or the perception that a default was increasingly possible, since this would drive up the price of credit protection, and thus the value of Greek CDS.
Implicit in these most recent and quite damming accusations therefore, is that the Prime Minister not only arranged for, facilitated and possibly forced the sale of a national asset to a private firm that he or members of his family had a personal stake in, but that he also did so during a period when he knew that the value of this asset would rise substantially. In fact, his actions and statements at the time had the potential to positively affect the outcome.
Some may recall that it was during this time that George Papandreou also decried the role of speculators in driving up the yields on Greek debt, by trading the very CDS contracts that he has now been accused of selling (and possibly buying through IJ Partners). Rising bond yields caused by such speculation pushed Greece into the clutches of the IMF. If it were not for being priced out of the bond market, Greece would not be in the position that it is today.
And if that wasn’t enough, it was also during this period when Greek bonds began being sold in short form (in some cases using naked short selling in order to create an artificially high supply, thus unfairly driving down the price of the nation’s bonds) by the major banking institutions in Europe and the United States (including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, RBS, HSBC, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Societe General, etc.), Parallel to this the Central Bank of Greece quite curiously decided to change the legal settlement period for shorting government bonds from three days to ten days.
This had the ostensible effect of aiding naked short sellers who were able to keep their positions against Greek national debt open longer, thus driving down the price of the country’s bonds, spiking it’s yields, and pumping up the price of Greek CDS. (Click here to read the relevant article on hellasfrappe about this very subject entitled how Greece was handed over to the banking cartel featured several months ago - http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-greece-was-handed-over-to-banking.html)
The criminal implications of these accusations are truly serious and so immense that no one can even predict what sort of punishment would be involved if proven to be true.
What we can say, however, is that Panos Kammenos, despite the fact that he has put himself in a very precarious (and I would also add dangerous) position by exposing this fraud to the general public, is NOT THE ONLY ONE MAKING THE ACCUSATION. In fact, the role of the Central Bank of Greece in this entire affair was also featured in a legal document produced by Dr. Kyriakos Tobras and Mr. George Noulas a year ago.
Tobras speaks to Keiser live about the government bonds scheme
Click here for the follow-up to this story
Tobras speaks to Keiser live about the government bonds scheme
Click here for the follow-up to this story
On April 09, 2010, in Athens, the Tobras and Noulas filled a Criminal Fraud Charge Report, submitted to the Attorney General of the Greek Supreme Court, Ioannis Tentes. The report was filed against Speculators and their Accomplices, Greek Partners and Government Officers who they say by running an organized criminal plan - with consecutive actions and omissions to act – purposely manipulated the Greek Government Bonds Market with the intent to achieve multiple financial gains, deceiving and damaging Greek Government Debt (GDP) and Greek citizens and Taxpayers wealth.
The damage, according to them is estimated to reach some 13 billion Euros and, given the size, has already stretched Greek National Economy, Next Generations Wealth and Economic Sovereignty of the country. The above mentioned persons have been recently charged on the spot, with similar fraud crimes in the US and the EU, following previous investigations of local Justice and other State Authorities. Their full personal and business details have been already published, together with the detailed description of the financial fraud crimes committed. (for more on this check their site www.stopspeculators.gr ).
Tobras and Noulas strongly believe that it's time to uncover the identity of all persons, business and institutions, responsible of the Greek Financial Holocaust and especially, those Greek Citizens who sold out the country with the intent to perform financial and political gains.
Tobras and Noulas strongly believe that it's time to uncover the identity of all persons, business and institutions, responsible of the Greek Financial Holocaust and especially, those Greek Citizens who sold out the country with the intent to perform financial and political gains.
Keiser calls Papandreou a fly-by-night dictator
Commenting on all of this, economic analyst Max Keiser termed the revelations as a “clear case of tyranny and treason”. That is why, Keiser added, there should be a “regime” change in Greece. In a unique, and witty manner, Keiser suggests that Greek people should go to Parliament “where this idiot George Papandreou is living… and pull him out, get rid of him” because he adds that “he committed treason, he committed tyranny!”
With the evidence in hand, Keiser claims that George Papandreou was involved in fraud on three different occasions. During the period of what he terms as “financial terrorism” that is now resulting in the loss of Greek sovereignty.
“The country of Greece is not bankrupt”, adds Keiser “the IMF is bankrupt, George Papandreou is bankrupt, who knows what money he owes that he is selling his country” for some 27 billion Euros. He agrees that the Greek people have every right to demand this money back because it was sold illegally and wittingly describes Papandreou as a “fly-by-night dictator, who comes in and ransacks a country and sails off.”
The Prime Minister is obligated to answer to all these allegations. New terms are being negotiated as we speak that could lead to a further destruction of our nation and we demand answers HERE AND NOW.
If Papandreou himself was not involved in these wrongdoings, then he must know who is, because transactions of this sort and magnitude do not simply go unnoticed to senior members of government.
As stated above this is a very urgent moment for Greece. Terms to surrender our national sovereignty are being negotiated as we speak and that will have existential implications on our nation. Our borders, our natural reserves and resource rights and everything we know of our social and culture lives are at stake.
Also, the Greek military budget is being gutted under the terms of the memorandum, just as Turkish ships are reportedly increasing their oil and gas exploration efforts off the Aegean coast and as the EU has moved to, yet again, challenge the national borders of Greece with the recognition of the European Federation of Western Turks of Thrace.
The groundwork is being laid for the existential destruction of the Greek nation through diplomacy, debt, and who knows what else, even physical occupation at some point in the not to distant future. Read relevant article on why this is happening here: http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2011/02/recipe-on-how-to-destabilize-country.html
This situation dear friends cannot go on any longer. Treason against one’s own nation is a very serious accusation. The memorandum signed in May of last year is null and void. It was conceived illegally and passed in direct violation of the Greek constitution. In fact no such agreement has ever been made on a national, federal and international scale. (Read relevant story here http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.com/2011/05/we-have-lost-our-sovereignty-with.html) or watch video below in the Greek language, it is part I of III.
With the evidence in hand, one can only conclude that some officials are purposely working on behalf of their own interests and on behalf of the interests of foreign agents intent on stripping Greece of its VERY SOVEREIGNTY that her founders fought so tirelessly and bravely to ensure during the revolution against Ottoman rule and subsequent German occupation.
When Greeks cannot trust their own leaders to protect what is rightfully theirs, then in my opinion defiance is the only course of action. The ruling socialist government (PASOK) cannot be trusted, (nor tolerated any longer), and should step down from power NOW!
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