SCANDALOUS - Megaron Concert Hall Received Quarter of a Billion in State Funds

Over a quarter of a billion euros of public money was given to the Athens Concert Hall between 1999 and 2011, MPs were told on Tuesday. In a written reply to a question tabled by Syriza MPs, the General Secretariat for Public Investments said that the concert hall, commonly known as the Megaron, received 287,291,456 Euros in a span of 13 years.

Commonly known as the Megaron, the institution is owned by a non-profit non-government organization (NGO) titled the Athens Concert Hall Organisation. Half of its broad members are appointed by the culture ministry while the other half by a separate NGO by the name of Association of the Friends of Music.

It was established by the late Christos Lambrakis, owner of one of the country’s biggest media groups DOL, which also publishes Ta Nea and To Vima among other interests.

(It should be reminded that Ta Nea and To Vima were always pro-PASOK and especially pro-Simitis. The attack from Syriza is not by chance, since we all know that it is pro-George Papandreou a rival of the Simitis-Venizelos regime).

In its reply, the General Secretariat for Public Investments said the sums were for projects such as the concert hall's car park, the conference and cultural centre. Other sums were simply described as "grants".

The same document clarified that no Megaron project has featured in the Public Investments Programme since 2011.

The information sent to Parliament was the first in a series requested by 28 Syriza MPs from the ministries of culture, finance and development. These concern funding received by the Athens Concert Hall company, including payments from the Public Investments Fund, bank loans and loan guarantees supplied by the state.

They cite a previous reply by Alternate Finance Minister Christos Staikouras that the Megaron has taken out three loans backed by a state guarantee for the sum of 245 million Euros, while the state had in March 2011 also undertaken to pay off a loan of 95 million Euros given to the Megaron by the Bank of Greece, at a time when the country was already under troika fiscal control.

They also asked for the report drawn up a firm of international auditors evaluating the market value of the concert hall's second building at 432 million Euros and ask whether the state is going to make a commitment that this real estate will not be transferred to private owners.

Sources - Elytherotypia, ANA-MPA