The follow-up story of Zoe Georganta, Professor at the University of Macedonia and committee member of Greece's National Statistical Service (NSS) who accused former Economy and Finance minister George Papaconstantinou of purposely “falsifying” the country’s deficit in 2009 (just after George Papandreou's PASOK party gained control of the government) because he wanted to purposely implement harsh austerity measures is indeed tragic.After coming out with the truth, (which incidentally has been noted by the main opposition New Democracy party for over a year now in a book by ex-minister of Economy Papathanasiou) she has been slapped and verbally beaten by the Greek media over the past few days for having the GUTS to stand up for justice. (Read original article here)
Georganta, who underlines that the final numbers that were presented by the PASOK government were known by Eurostat, which also participated in this fraud by supporting the former minister. From what she said, the Greek deficit for 2009 was deliberately estimated at 15.4% by Eurostat because they inflated it to be larger than that of Ireland's debt which was estimated at 14%. "The deficit was artificially inflated in 2009 to show that the country had the largest across Europe, including that of Ireland which was 14% in order to justify the severe measures the government wanted to implement on the country. And (that is why) Eurostat presented it at 15,4% “.
She has revealed that the true deficit for 2009 stood at 12%, but after pressure from the president of Eurostat, Walter Radermacher, the report for 2009 also contained data from the country’s public utility organizations which were not supposed to be included. Georganta says that the inclusion of these utilities purposely inflated the deficit and added that this had not been handled
in accordance with Eurostat guidelines. She also said that the chairman rejected the
board's objections on this move and if that wasn't enough... she was asked to shut up about it, not state her opinion about it... or else.
The revelation of this incredible story is now fueling speculation that EU authorities, including the European Central Bank worked hand in hand with Goldman Sachs and complicit Greek politicians to trigger a debt event in Greece which would allow banks, that actually have tiny levels of capital under the fractional reserve system to actually bleed hundreds of billions of euros out of tax payer’s pockets on behalf of their clients.
It almost sounds like the perfect crime... but in every crime justice will prevail in the end. Or like the Greek saying says... "ο Θεος αγαπάει τον κλέφτη.. αγαπάει όμως και τον νοικοκύρη"
Already the ECB has asked the European Union’s General Court to dismiss a lawsuit from Bloomberg seeking documents on how Greece used derivatives to hide loans and triggered the region’s sovereign debt crisis. Check the story here -http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-13/ecb-asks-court-to-bar-greek-swap-disclosure-cites-market-disruption-risks.html
Since Friday, this heroine has been beaten and highly criticized by the Greek media over the last two days, for doing what any honest citizens would do... and that is saying the truth. Then again... hellasfrappe has criticized the Greek media from time to time for using government propaganda as news. Just watch how she is discredited by the panelists on this latest news video where she appeared yesterday. As she attempts to explain why she made these very, very serious accusations a total of THREE (yes you heard correctly THREE) reporters begin to talk over her so as to not allow viewers to listen to her argument and then they begin criticizing everything she says and after slapping her around a little with wise cracks the news anchor cuts for a break. If you understand Greek, please watch and especially LISTEN to what she says.
But the fun did not stop there... on Sunday morning she was invited to MEGA channel, who we all know is PASOK's promo (image making) channel. Again if you understand Greek then watch this video as well... Look at the way they treated a University Professor, who is also a PASOK party member, and who had the GUTS to say the truth.
As expected, Papaconstantinou was quick to dismiss the allegations on Friday, saying the deficit revision was fully in line with Eurostat's methodological guidelines and for some odd reason the same television channels did not bother to even doubt him for a minute... He said the revision of Greek fiscal data in 2010 was the result of close cooperation with Eurostat and the same methodology as the rest of Europe was applied.
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