BUSTED - Illicit trade in antiquities gang headed by major hotel owner!

The owner of a major hotel chain in the Attica region is according to some press reports suspected by authorities of being in charge of a gang involved in the illicit trades in antiquities and sacred icons.

At the request of a judicial officer in Ioannina, who had discovered the hotelier’s suspect activities an investigation was immediately launched by authorities in Athens and three major cities in the Peloponnese, in Thessaly as well as in Epirus.

Reports in the Greek press, quoting police officials, claim that during the investigation in Thessaly, one alleged member of the gang, who worked as a shepherd, was found with three pistols, about 80,000 euros in cash and at least three luxury cars.

(Apparently business was good!)

The same reports also talk about a police raid that took place in a bookbindery shop in down town Athens, promising to reveal all on Friday afternoon.

HellasFrappe will be updating this story as soon as we get hold of more information.

Simitis says he regrets travesties (scandals) during the time he was PM

Former Prime Minister Costas Simitis, as well as the present leader of the controversial PASOK party, Evangelos Venizelos, on Wednesday began testifying in the appeals case, in relation to the bribes in scandalous armament deals, which was launched by former Minister of National Defense Akis Tsohatzopoulos.

When questioned, Simitis said that he was not aware of anything about the illegal actions of the defendants and what is attributed to them.

     "What I know comes from the newspapers and the courts” e said while he revealed that the KYSEA does not have any investigative powers, nor does it negotiate and discuss offset benefits.

He said that weapons cannot be purchased unless a proposal is made by the Ministry of National Defense.

When asked whether bribery was possible in the KYSEA’s proceedings, the former Greek PM said that "if it happened, it is possible” and explained that the prices of military supplies and armaments are not known and are determined case-by-case.

He also said that he regretted the "these travesties" took place under his premiership when his efforts were to upgrade and modernize the country.

Certainly the most controversial part of his testimony was when he referred to the issue of Imia and said that the reason the helicopter crashed -killing three Greek soldiers- was because it was in the air for too long. Simitis explained how the crisis with Turkey at the time over the Imia Islets highlighted the need to update the Hellenic Armed forces, in order to counter a possible escalation.

It should be reminded that both Simitis and Venizelos were summoned by the courts at the request of Tsochatzopoulos since they were part of the Government Council for National Defense (KYSEA) during the critical period when the defective submarines and TOR M1 purchases were made (the KYSEA is the body with the highest authority on such matters). Other veteran PASOK ministers who were part of the KYSEA at the time include Vaso Papandreou and Yannos Papantoniou, -who are also set to testify on May20th.-

A week later, in the 27th of May, three high-ranking military officers that were also part of the KYSEA – Athanasios Tzoganis, Manolis Paragioudakis and Giorgos Ioannidis – are due to take the stand.

According to the former National Defense Minister, the controversial arms deals involves strategic government choices that were made by this controversial KYSEA and as such it was not possible to make illegal payments for legal and approved supply contacts. The courts argue that the trial aims to investigate the alleged bribery charge and not the legal status of the supply contracts. After all, KYSEA members have previously stated that the council decides on contracts based on the recommendations from the military and political leadership of the Ministry of National Defense.

Here are the transcripts according to TOC magazine:

Simitis: You will be asking why we gave those funds and why the procurements were necessary. You will remember that before I won the confidence vote, we did not have the means to intervene in the Imia case and the helicopter crashed and those kids were killed because it was flying for more hours than it should have. So when I asked the head of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff if commandos could retake the Imia [islets] he said no because they would have to go via Thessaloniki and it would take 6 hours for them to get there. I have written about it in our book. The then leadership of the Armed Forces told me that the difference between us and Turkey was great at the level of engagement and that we should have the ability, in the event of a clash to hold them until the allies could intervene. KYSEA therefore took the decision and we bought 60 F16s, 15 Mirages, 4 submarines, helicopters etc. At a diplomatic level the Helsinki decision was taken.

Judge: Let’s go to the decisions
‘Akis protested when I reduced the defense budget’

Simitis: That [Helsinki] decision was important because if it wanted to intervene as in Imia, Turkey would have to go to the International court beforehand. That meant that we didn’t need so many arms. So I called the governing committee and on the recommendation of the then Finance Minister, I recommended that new arms purchases be suspended and the budget be reduced by 1 trillion drachmas. Mr Tsochatzopoulos disagreed as he believed that improving the country’s defenses was important and [argued] that the arms programs did not exceed 5% of GDP and was only at 4%. I decided to the contrary and there were major protests from Mr Tsochatzopoulos and the press who wrote, “Arms or butter?” New Democracy also agreed with the press. Eventually KYSEA met and reduced the arms programs by 35 billion euros. That is, the arms procurement programs happened under the pressure of the Imia crisis and were reduced when the element of necessary defense improvements was no longer present.

Judge: Yes but that didn’t concern the previous contracts for the submarines and TOR M1s.

Simitis: Those were necessary due to Imia and were right to be purchased, so the assertion that they were not needed is false.

Judge: Does KYSEA (the Government Council of Foreign Affairs and Defense) have an advisory role?

Simitis: No. It has an executive role. It didn’t decide over everything. The law governing KYSEA says that it makes political decisions but not about the purchases. For example it would answer the political question: do we have the ability to purchase [arms] from France or the USA? That’s what it decides.

Simitis: KYSEA would receive the decisions of the committees, of the defense minister etc. KYSEA cannot purchase something that has not been recommended by the ministry. It either accepts what is said by the ministry or not. But it did not and cannot have an opinion on technical details, only general principles. For example the prime ministerial airplane was chosen between the Falcon which could go to China and the Embraer which was enough for Brussels which is what concerned us.

The KYSEA had a strategic role. Just think that in 8 years it met 44 times – i.e. relatively few, while the cabinet met 204 times.

Judge: Did you not audit the files? Could the minister change the supplier of the weapons?

Simitis: No but he could bring the case back to KYSEA and say that ‘I think this system is more useful’.

Could the Minister have been bribed?

Judge: Could the minister have been bribed?

Simitis: Since it happened, could it have happened?

Pagoropoulos (Tsochatzopoulos’s lawyer): That hasn’t been proven, that is what we are looking at

Simitis: It is worth asking, given there was so much background work, how [the bribery] could ultimately happen. But here you are not coming to buy an Opel car. It is auditable only by the Defense Committees. But here it appears (I won’t say that it has been proven and annoy the counsel), that there were payments at three levels: deputy director, general secretary and minister at the highest level, so given that they had colluded anything is possible.

Pagoropoulos: That hasn’t been established sir, that is what we are examining

Simitis: I learnt that two of the accused had confessed.

Judge: Don’t take anything as a given

Simitis: Indeed. Was it accepted that there were illegal payments? In 2001, 2, 3? No it was not accepted. It became accepted much later after trials abroad of companies and their employees.

Judge: We are looking to determine if that is true.

Simitis: It is true about the foreign trials.

Judge: How could there have been bribes when all of this was overseen by the KYSEA (the Government Council of Foreign Affairs and Defense)?

Simitis: I told you it did not examine prices. That is all done by the committees. A file comes with the recommendation of the Head of Arms and of course the ministers. So there is room for bribery before and afterwards.

Judge: Do you know if Mr Tsochatzopoulos was bribed?

Simitis: I don’t know, I told you, I don’t know anything…

Judge: Whichever witness is tired may sit.

Simitis: I am not tired
Akis’s recommendations were decisive

Prosecutor: Were Tsochatzopoulos’s recommendations of major importance?

Simitis: Of course, he was the Defense Minister

Prosecutor: Did his recommendations [carry more weight]?

Simitis: The weight of the recommendation depends on the reputation of the individual. KYSEA met 44 times. Long discussions were had about the submarines and repeatedly. The German submarines were decided on following the recommendation of the head of the navy. There was no one advising ‘these are faulty’ don’t buy them. I recall that for both issues we met more than once.
‘I trusted Akis’

(The former PM recalled that at the height of his power Akis Tsochatzopoulos was one of the most influential officials in PASOK and on the political scene in general, noting that he had even served as acting prime minister. As such he was trusted by Simitis.)

Simitis: I had faith in the system of the Defense Ministry. In any case the Defense Minister wasn’t just anyone, he had served as acting prime minister when Andreas Papandreou was ill. From ’76 he was PASOK’s secretary and for 20 plus years the number two person of PASOK.

TOR missiles and submarines

Simitis: For the TOR M: :With the TOM – M1 the only issue that was raised was their functionality, if they were compatible with other weapons as the Greek army did not purchase Russian weapons but it was decided that we should by Russian weapons for political reasons. The TORs were purchased for the army. If the recommendation was that the weapon wasn’t a good one, we wouldn’t have bought it. There were some weapons the Soviets had which others did not have.:

On the Submarines
“It is now 2015 and you can’t expect from me to remember the discussion we had in 1999 and 2001 in relation to the submarines or whatever other weapon system. The only goal of the government was for there to be co-production as the Saramanga shipyards were not operating and were making losses. KYSEA decided that it would be beneficial for there to be co-production.”

Editor's Note: Simitis of course forgets that during that period his rival, former leader of the New Democracy party Costas Karamanlis, continually slammed him for the corruption that was occurring during his time of rule, but all Simitis did -at the time- was challenge Karamanlis to take these cases to court. Karamanlis did, and almost 15 years later, the Greek court system is still battling to uncover the truth in these cases. Why? Think about it. The PASOK system, which some describe as being better than that of the Cosa Nostra,  involved people from all walks of life in Greece. That is why the corruption continued for decades because it involved the neighbourhood baker, up to officials in the government. In simple terms, when you suddenly go from rags to riches like most people did who supported this party oer the past 30 years, it is very difficult to break that line of corruption. Karamanlis tried during his rule, but was overrun by all those who once hailed Costas Simitis. Sadly the methods that were used by this group which is still alive and kicking (media, finances, large corporations) is again being repeated by the SYRIZA party (or the old PASOK) which is presently appointing its members to high-ranking posts across the public sector. HellasFrappe highly doubts that we will ever have the pleasure of seeing authorities drag these characters off behind bars because the mechanism that supports this type of corruption would collapse.

BUSTED - Authorities arrest L. Bobolas for tax evasion

Businessman (and one of Greece's most influential oligarchs) Leonidas Bobolas was arrested on Wednesday for tax evasion. The businessman, 53, who heads the ELLAKTOR company, was arrested by financial police after a Public Order was issued against him for tax evasion. (His family has a large share of MEGA tv, as well as other publications). Bobolas was then immediately led before a Greek prosecutor.

According to SKAI tv and reporter Ioanna Mandrou, the order was issued on Tuesday afternoon and concerns (possible undeclared) funds (13 million euros) that she claims were discovered on the Lagarde List as well as in other foreign accounts.

Leonidas Bobolas paid a 1.8 million euro bail after he was arrested on tax evasion and money laundering charges, in relation to the Lagarde list investigations. Reports said that the charges against him concern a sum of 4 million euros. He was contacted to pay 2 million euros, but never did.

That is why he was arrested and then taken before a Greek prosecutor, where he faced the examiner and responded to the charges.

His brother Fotis Bobolas (huge stake owner of Teletypos and MEGA channel) has also reportedly paid a 1.8-million-euro fine.

A news report at 13:00 on Skai Tv also said that Bobolas decided to pay his more than 1.8 million debt in taxes and hinted that charges would soon be dropped against him.

Leonidas Bobolas' father, George, has developed properties all over the Balkan region and the M.East for over the past 40 years. The family, which owns stakes in the TV channel MEGA, also has stakes in many publications. One of his sons, Fotis, is the director of Teletypos, or MEGA channel's holding company. His other son, Leonidas, is the chief executive and a major shareholder of ELLAKTOR, a construction giant founded by his father that has participated in multi-billion euro contracts with the state. The family as a whole also controls the Ethnos newspaper, other print media and/or  websites. Their publications always served the interests of the PASOK party, and were paramount in the information war during Costas Simitis' rule (1996-2004).

Bobolas' family "feels" the anger of society against all these austerity measures, but his multinational ELLAKTOR company is forcing drivers to pay hefty tolls on most of the country's motorways -which coincidentally are managed by him and even though the Greek state funded these works with taxpayer money!

Attiki Motorway costs 2.80 Euros, and is used by approximately 250,000 vehicles daily. Anyone who wants to travel to Thessaloniki, from Athens, by car needs to pay at least 25 Euros in tolls. When the initiative called the "I won't pay the tolls' movement made their appearance it apparently soured Bobolas' interests since they not only refused to pay the tolls, but reports have said that they also caused damages at the booths by sawing bars, etc.

It should be reminded that Bobolas' family belongs to a handful of powerful Greek families, which, for decades now, have formed the existing political, economic and social system in Greece reaping in huge profits. Now that Greece is standing at the edge of the cliff, these people continue to refuse to take any responsibility. Instead, businessmen such as Bobolas, are speculating on new state projects, while others lurk on opportunities arising from the privatization of state property. (Read more on Greece's oligarchs by clicking HERE).

Source: SKAI tv news, ProtoThema, Kathimerini, HellasFrappe archives

BUSTED - Greek archaeologist discovers Christie’s artefacts linked to organised crime

Eight rare antiquities were apparently pulled from auction by Christie’s over the past six months after a Greek research assistant at the university’s Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research uncovered images of them in archives seized from Italian art dealers convicted of trafficking offences, an article on www.scotsman.com said.

According to the report, the latest tranche of treasures were due to be sold at auction in London on Tuesdsay, but after Dr Christos Tsirogiannis notified Interpol and Italian authorities, they were removed.

Tsirogiannis discovered the four lots catalogued in the confiscated archives of Giancomo Medici and Gianfranco Becchina, and warned Christie’s was failing to carry out “due diligence”.

Medici was sentenced to ten years in prison in 2004 by a Rome court after he was found guilty of conspiracy to traffic in antiquities. Becchina, a Sicilian antiquities dealer, was convicted in Rome four years ago of trafficking in plundered artefacts.

Dr Tsirogiannis, a forensic archaeologist, has access to their photos and documents via Greek police and prosecutors.

The items accepted for Tuesday’s antiquities sale date back to 540BC. They include an Attic black-figured amphora and an Etruscan terracotta antefix. Cumulatively, they are worth close to £100,000.

It is the second time in six months Dr Tsirogiannis has highlighted the dubiety of items being sold through Christie’s. The value of the eight withdrawn lots exceeds £1.2 million.

Dr Tsirogiannis, is a member of Trafficking Culture, a Glasgow-based research programme which compiles evidence of the contemporary global trade in looted cultural objects.

A spokeswoman for Christie’s said:

     “We have withdrawn four lots from our upcoming antiquities sale as it was brought to our attention that there is a question mark over their provenance, namely, that they are similar to items recorded in the Medici and Becchina archives.

Read more at: www.scotsman.com

BUSTED - Hardouvelis: I sent money abroad because I was scared (VIDEO)

Former finance minister Gikas Hardouvelis admitted that he transferred some of his savings to foreign bank accounts in 2012, because he was “scared like all Greeks”. While speaking to STAR Tv earlier this week, the former minister was forced to explain his actions following the revelation in last Sunday’s Real News newspaper that he is being investigated for alleged failure to comply with his tax obligations.

Hardouvelis noted that he has paid all taxes and that any foreign bank accounts he has were opened only because he had also worked abroad. Funds were only sent to those accounts when he was not a minister.

     "I'm taxed for the sums of money the newspaper is referring to. The money is the result of many years of work -- mine and my wife's. My tax reports confirm that", said Hardouvelis.

The controversial money transfers occurred in May 2012, when he was responsible for the financial office of former Prime Minister Lucas Papademos.

Hardouvelis admitted that, despite the fact that during the period in question he advised the Greeks not to transfer money abroad, he did the opposite, for.... family reasons.

     "Like many Greeks, I transferred some of my money abroad for an emergency, because my child was abroad”.

Explaining the fact that the transfers were carried out in relatively small tranches, he said that this was because the transfers were completed by himself through e-banking.

     "I have nothing to hide. In my life, everything I've done transparently, my life is a mirror, " Hardouvelis added.

References: Real News, enikos, STAR Tv, YouTube

Police arrest Xiros' accomplice Angeliki Spyropoulou

Police officials on Monday arrested Angeliki Spyropoulou, the 22-year-old female accomplice of notorious Nov.17 convicted terrorist Christodoulos Xiros. She is suspected of being a member of the Conspiracy of Fire Cells (SPF) terrorist group. Authorities had launched a manhunt to arrest Spyropoulou, since the capture of Xiros early in January.

According to MEGA tv, the 22-year-old was arrested in the area of Salamina (an island off of Piraeus in southern Athens). More precisely, she was found her at the home of Christos and Gerasimos Tsakalos (brothers), who are both serving a sentence for belonging to the same terrorist organisation.

Spyropoulou, was allegedly aiding Xiros when he was a fugitive, as well as in a plan to spring imprisoned members of the extreme-leftist terror gang Conspiracy of Fire Cells from Korydallos prison.

The mother of both the Tsakalos brothers, who at the time of the arrest was giving testimony at the office of the investigative magistrate on a different aspect of the Xiros case, was immediately arrested by authorities for harboring a criminal.

The arrest comes after three other suspects were detained at the weekend, all of whom also face similar terrorism-related charges.

One of the three detainees includes a 32-year-old man who is accused of passing on a number of items to Spyropoulou, which were to be used in the Korydallos prison break plan. The list of items includes digital files, about 6,000 euros in cash, a GPS jammer and even laser scopes which were to be used in the assault on the prison.

The other suspect, according to one report in the To Vima newspaper, says that another detainee, a 36-year-old woman, is suspected of acting as a liaison between Xiros, Angeliki Spyropoulou as well as a third suspect. The same report also points out that DNA traces of the third detainee, a 39-year-old man, were discovered in a mail bomb that had been sent to prosecutor Dimitris Mokkas in September 2013, as well as a time bomb that was sent to the Korydallos tax office in March 2014 and an explosive bomb that was delivered to the Itea Police Department director in April 2014.

On the subject of Greek terrorists, three Greek convicted terrorists who are currently being held in the Domokos high security prison (central Greece) on Monday announced that they were beginning a hunger strike to protest against anti-terror laws, and in favour of the abolition of high security prisons.

Dimitris Koufontinas, 57, serving multiple life sentences for crimes related to his membership of the November 17 terrorist organisation, and Kostas Gournas, convicted for his membership in the terrorist organisation Revolutionary Struggle, co-signed a statement saying they protest, among others, against anti-terror laws.

The same was announced in a separate statement, signed by Nikos Maziotis, convicted for membership in the Revolutionary Struggle terrorist group.

Background to story HERE and HERE

References - MEGA tv, To Vima, ProtoThema, enikos, kathimerini, ANA-MPA

BUSTED - Secret meetings between SYRIZA, Soros representatives & Other Hedge Fund Officials

Officials from the ruling SYRIZA party and representatives from international funds (speculators) met secretly over the last few days, according to an article in the Sunday edition of the "To Ethnos" newspaper. HellasFrappe was obviously intrigued by the article and decided to do a little bit of its own research. Trust us... This is a MUST READ.

Obviously these officials did not come to Athens to get briefed on SYRIZAian baptismal terms, but rather on the opportunities that can rise from the interim Memorandum (oops agreement) that was signed at the recent Eurogroup in Brussels and how they can capitalize on various Greek industries. According to the article, these opportunists were looking to find lady luck in areas such as corporate restructuring, recapitalization of credit institutions, reorganization of bankrupt businesses, real estate, tourism and energy. "

Unlike Greek voters, adds the article, these financial vultures did not hear hardliners press on about "paused privatizations" or the sale of "red loans" (some terms commonly used by the government over the past few weeks in order to retain face with their supporters).

Heading the list, according to "To Ethnos", were well known names such as: Soros Fund Management (manages funds 28 billion. dollars), Green light Capital (managed funds 5 billion. dollars), Tudor Capital (managed Chapters 6 billion. dollars), H2O (manages funds 11 billion. dollars), VR Capital (managed funds 3 billion. dollars), Millennium Management (manages funds 23 billion. dollars), Paulson & Co (manages funds 22.8 billion. dollars), Standard Life (manages funds of 195 billion. pounds).

Let's focus on some of the names (or bad boys) on this list (which until recently were described by SYRIZAians as "vultures" and used by the so-called far left party to criticise the previous conservative government). As you will see, these are the creme de la creme of bad boys in the hedge fund world... and -as expected- they are all out to capitalize heavily on Greece's woes.

Soros Fund Management, LLC - Soros Fund Management is the primary adviser for the Quantum Group of Funds; a family of funds dealing in international investments. The company invests in public equity and fixed income markets worldwide, as well as foreign exchange, currency, and commodity markets, and private equity and venture capital funds. The company is reported to have large investments in transportation, energy, retail, financial, and other industries. Geroge Soros is known for saving George Bush Jr from a 1990 bankruptcy. Soros still works with Bush Sr in the Carlyle Group a powerful financial organization & international weapons dealer controlled by the Rothschilds who own Vickers Munitions. Soros has been equally active in many changes of governments throughout the world including the overthrow of Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze in 2003 a devout Orthodox Christian. Soros has also directly and provocatively financed anti-Hellenic organizations (or shady NGO's) that have determined themselves as "Macedonian" in Northern Greece (meaning FYROManian).
At the same time (and as noted in many other articles from HellasFrappe in the past) he finances (or financed) the Indymedia website which is home to the Leftist anarchy movement (which we also know is part of SYRIZA as well). OSI and Soros have contributed thousands to the far-left Independent Media Center, or Indymedia, known as an "independent news gathering collective," whose servers were seized by US federal law enforcement agencies. The action was apparently related to an investigation into international terrorism, kidnapping or money laundering. Basically Indymedia is a global participatory (anarchist) network that reports on political and social issues. The Greek chapter is also well known for publishing statements made by terrorist organizations, and believe it or not it overtly applauds violence as a political tactic. The site is also known as a paramilitary website, which apparently encourages hatred against anything and any one that is considered conservative, liberal or basically tips towards the Right (in other words anyone who is not a Leftist is targeted). As such the website follows the movement of the Golden Dawn party as well as many other ordinary people who make (or have made), the mistake of expressing Greek nationalist ideals.Who detests Greek nationalist ideals? Or nationalist ideals in general? Aside from Kissinger, there is always George Soros. Indymedia is funded by the Tides Foundation, which supports a slew of radical leftist organizations, and which has received millions in donations from George Soros’ Open Society Institute.
Furthermore, Soros has apparently also financially supported "Turkish" and/or "Cham" organizations that are vying to claim land from the Hellenic State (in order to further the dream of the "Great Albania" and the "Ottoman Empire"). An interesting move from this anti-Hellenic warmonger is that he is the main sponsor of CDRSEE. It is operated by his NGO called “Center for Democracy and Reconciliation of South East Europe”  and maintains an office in Ano Poli in Thessaloniki. The first project CDRSEE undertook was the Joint History Project (four books of common Balkan history). Costas Carras one of the Board members of CDRSEE, among other books thanks the US State Department for assisting the publication of the books (Note that the State Department funded a US $100.000 a study of the “Relevance of the Smyrna Catastrophe”). The books distort historical truth and serve the claims of FYROM. At the same time they openly challenge the Hellenic cultural dimension and historical continuity of Macedonia and promote the alleged existence of a separate, Macedonian ethnic entity. The project has been also funded in part by Coca-Cola and believe it or not... the (Simitis clan-run) National Bank of Greece!  Basically the main aim of  the project is to impose the abolition of the term "Ottoman" from Greek textbooks. (Remember what former MP for the DIMAR party Maria Reppousis attempted to do? Guess who was backing her....)
In 2012 he openly warned EU leaders that the Eurozone had entered a fatal phase that might possibly lead to its final breakup.He then presented the creation of a “Solidarity Fund” destined especially for immigrants in Greece. It entails the financing of building constructions which are destined to refugees being sheltered in Greece. The first installments have been made by Soros himself, while a significant amount is already gathered and administered under the auspices of Raul Wallemberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, established in Sweden. In his speech in Berlin Soros put special emphasis on the fact that Greece is a country “in humanitarian need”.  It should make one wonder why Soros puts such emphasis on the immigrants and ignores locals that are equally encountered with similar poverty issues. Also why is Soros not establishing his foundation in Greece to self-monitor developments, but decides to keep its siege in Sweden? This is certainly something that needs to be also questioned.
Soros also apparently helped arrange the visit of SYRIZA’s left-wing radical coalition leader Alexis Tsipras to the US, during which the Greek politician became acquainted with influential representatives of American political "establishment". There Tsipras received a distinct “go ahead” to “rule”. Greek analysts see in Soros' interest in Greek left-wing radicals another hidden motive. SYRIZA has been actively collaborating for long time with nongovernmental organizations in Greece, funded by Soros. The coalition of left-wing radicals actively supports sexual, ethnic and religious minorities. Many call the policy of this party anti-national as its leaders deny the genocide of Greeks in Asia Minor and stand for territorial concessions for Greece’s neighbors. The SYRIZA coalition is a consistent opponent of preserving the Church's influence on Greek society. It supports the removal of chaplains from the army, opposes the funding of priests' salaries from the state budget, and demands full separation of the Church from the state. Read more about Tsipras trip to the US click HERE.
The warning signs that Finance Minister Yianis Varoufakis is a “Trojan horse” for the global bankers are abundant. First, Varoufakis served as an economic adviser to the failed PASOK government of George Papandreou, the man who first put Greece on the road to draconian austerity measures. Varoufakis now claims that he was ardently opposed to Papandreou’s deal with the “Troika” but no one will ever know how much the now-anti austerity finance minister agreed to while he was advising Papadreou on the proper course of action to settle Greece’s enormous debt problem. Varoufakis is also a close friend and co-author of American economist and fellow University of Texas professor James K. Galbraith, the son of the late “eminence grise” of American economists, John Kenneth Galbraith. The later's ties to the global banking elite are exemplified by his guest scholar position at the elitist Brookings Institution in Washington. In other words, although Tsipras’s biography suggests a bona fide leftist, Varoufakis’s background indicates that Greece’s new finance minister is at home and comfortable with the banker elites who carved out Greece’s national soul with a sharp blade of austerity cuts to social security, public health, and other basic public services. More HERE.

Paulson & Co. - Another vulture fund that was present at this secret meeting, includes the Paulson & Co. investment company. According to Reuters this firm had invested in the collapse of the US mortgage system, and gained more than 1 billion US dollars as a cause of this criminal act. Let us not forget that this company also spread the American financial crisis globally and was even accused of doing so by US authorities (unfortunately its founder John Paulson was never charged). The company is an investment management firm, established by its president and portfolio manager, John Paulson. It specializes in "global merger, event arbitrage and credit strategies", the firm had a relatively low profile on Wall Street until its hugely successful bet against the sub prime mortgage market in 2007. Today it is headquartered in New York with offices in London and Hong Kong, the company operates as a partnership, managing eight hedge funds as of 2013. It has approximately 120 employees and $18 billion in assets under management. Paulson has been criticized in the ABACUS investment for paying Goldman Sachs $15 million to put together what was a collection of "toxic" sub prime securities with his help (creating "the concept" of the "ethically challenged `synthetic` securities") to be sold by Goldman to long investors so that Paulson could bet against it, a process critics complained was "sleazy", or the work of those lacking a "moral compass", though not illegal. Paulson at the time replied that they "were not involved in the marketing of any Abacus products to any third parties," and that "Paulson did not sponsor or initiate Goldman's Abacus program." In April 2010, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Goldman Sachs over the ABACUS Synthetic CDO (see above) alleging Goldman had (mis)represented the assembler of the mortgage package underlying the CDOs as an objective third party (ACA Management), when in fact a "short" standing to reap great financial benefit in the event the CDO's default (Paulson & Co.) had a major role in assembling the mortgage package. Quite interestingly... Paulson also has a long track record of investing in distressed debt, bankruptcies and restructurings. The 2008-2009 financial crisis resulted in a record high level of defaults and bankruptcies across numerous industries, and Paulson was a large investor in many of the largest and most prominent ones, including the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and liquidation.

Green Light Capital - A third company that was present as well includes the Green Light Capital. Its founder, David Einhorn, American hedge fund manager, specializes in the management of overdue debts (how quaint...). The remarkable thing about this company is that it had miraculously "predicted" the collapse of Lehman Brothers, and had sold its entire stock of shares prior to the collapse. Obviously this move did not rise from a gifted sense of the markets, but from what some believe was inside information. Speaking about insider information (a term we got accustomed to here in Greece when George Papandreou was in power) the U.K. Financial Services Authority (FSA) fined Einhorn and Greenlight Capital US $11.2 million for trading on inside information in January 2012. The FSA claimed Einhorn obtained information on the Punch Taverns Plc (PUB) equity fundraising by a broker representing the company prior to public knowledge of the event. Over the following days, Einhorn sold more than 11 million shares, avoiding a 29.9% stock price collapse and subsequent loss of about £5.8 million. Einhorn called the fine "unjust" and "inconsistent with the law" but said he would pay it "rather than continue an arduous fight". The fine was the second largest levied on an individual in the history of Britain’s Financial Services Authority.

Millennium Partners - In 1989,  American hedge fund manager and billionaire, Israel Englander started Millennium Partners with Ronald Shear - whom he knew from his time at the American Stock Exchange - with $35 million in seed money (including $5 million from Englander himself and another $2 million from the Belzberg family). The firm got off to a rough start and Shear left in 1990. Since then, Englander has grown Millennium into a $20-plus billion dollar (under management) enterprise by using investment strategies like statistical arbitrage (quantitative analysis); fundamental long-short pairing; merger arbitrage (taking advantage of price differentials between a buy-out target company's stock price and bid price) and convertible arbitrage (taking advantage of price differentials between a company's stock price and convertible bond or stock warrant price). At any given time, Millennium holds thousands of investment positions and makes over 2 million trades on an average day. At the end of 2013, Millennium had 1500 employees in more than 12 offices around the world.

Standard Life - Standard Life plc is a long term savings and investment business, with headquarters in Edinburgh and operations around the globe. It has 1.5 million shareholders in more than 50 countries and over 6 million customers. In January 2006, Standard Life were accused of smearing a policy-holder, Michael Hogan, who was not happy with the way the company was being run. An e-mail sent to Standard Life executives and advisors (which was disclosed under the Data Protection Act) revealed an attempt to discredit him. In March 2007 the company announced it would cut 1,000 jobs in an attempt to save an additional £100 million per year in costs. One month later it was highlighted in the company's annual report that three of Standard Life's top executives (Sandy Crombie, Keith Skeoch and Trevor Matthews) were awarded more than £5 million in pay. A Standard Life spokesman defended the awards, citing the leadership's efforts in turning round the company's fortunes. In February 2014, Standard Life announced that it may move parts of their operations outside Scotland in the event of Scottish independence, if it was necessary to do so.

VR Capital Group - VR Capital Group Limited operates as a hedge fund manager. The Company is a leading alternative asset manager specializing in global emerging markets and distressed securities. According to the newspaper Ta Nea, a 810-square-meter property in London’s Holland Park, was purchased some time ago by hedge fund manager Richard Deitz and his wife Marina Nacheva. It should be noted that Deitz is the Founder, President and Director of VR Capital Group Ltd. In his article Three steps to put Greece on the road to sustainability which was published by the Greek daily Kathimerini in August 2012, we quote Deitz as confessing that he speculates on specific markets to find investment opportunities: “As a hedge fund manager with more than fifteen years of experience in sovereign defaults and restructurings (and a track record of finding investment opportunities in these events), including Greece, I believe that Greek solvency could be re-established with minimal cost to its European partners if the official sector embraces a constructive and creative three-step approach.”

H2O Asset Management LLP - H2O Asset Management LLP is a privately owned investment manager. According to Reuters this company has played one currency against another. It is operated by Bruno Crastes, a French fund manager specializing in absolute return/global bond strategies and CEO of H2O AM LLP. In 2010 he co-founded H2O AM LLP with Vincent Chaillley, focusing on liquid absolute return strategies. He was nominated "Best global bond manager of the past five years" in June 2013 with a performance of 89.71% vs. 33.65% for the peergroup. In December 2014, he arrived second in the Top 100 European fund managers ranking of l'Agefi Suisse. He is currently acting as CEO of H2O AM and Vincent Chailley as CIO. Significant shareholders of H2O AM LLP include Natixis Global Asset Management and H2O’s employees.

London Diversified Fund Management: London Diversified Fund Management, once a high flyer among fixed income hedge funds with $5 billion under management, took a severe blow as the global financial crisis struck and the U.S. in particular was hit with a crisis in the housing market. JPMorgan's LDFM’s London Select Fund is managed by David Gorton. Quite interestingly, Gorton’s career began 24 years ago at Chemical Bank, where he reportedly started out as a bond trader, specialised in forward rate agreements, and became joint head of Eurobond trading. Later on he spent three years at Chemical Bank. Gorton appears to have gone to HSBC where he continued to specialise in forward rates agreements, before being promoted to Chief Dealer for the US, responsible for all rates risk, in 1992. And (SURPRISE SURPRISE he is a former CIO at an internal fund with JPMorgan). Gorton made his first hedge fund move in 2002, back in the days when banks could still run funds of their own with impunity, JPMorgan hired him as chief investment officer to run its London Diversified Fund. Gorton and his team were successful, allegedly making 550m a year for the bank.

Tudor Capital: Paul Tudor Jones II is the founder of Tudor Investment Corporation, a private asset management company and hedge fund. As of March 2014, he was estimated to have a net worth of US $4.3 billion by Forbes Magazine and ranked as the 108th richest American and 345th richest in the world.With this financial success he founded the Robin Hood Foundation. In the documentary "Trader" Jones is seen as a young man predicting the 1987 crash, using methods similar to market forecaster Robert Prechter. Although the video was shown on public television in November 1987, few copies exist. On the Internet, bids for the video start at US $295. According to the video's director, Michael Glyn, Jones had requested in the 1990s that the documentary be removed from circulation. In the video, Jones can be seen huddled over a graph, comparing the market’s peak in 1987 with a previous high in 1929. As Elliott Wave theory would have it, the two market tops may have been 60 years apart but the herdlike exuberance of investors pushing stocks ever upward was the same. On Oct. 5, 1987, Prechter, then and now the best-known proponent of the theory, told his subscribers to sell. While the rest of Wall Street counted its losses, Jones, at age 32, returned 200 percent for his investors that year and drew a payday of an estimated $100 million for the year, an almost unheard-of sum at the time. This obviously controversial video (which shows how these hedge fund gurus manipulate the markets for their gains) has surfaced from time to time on different video sharing and torrent sites, but has often been taken down shortly thereafter due to copyright claims.

...and others

(Editor's Note: Frappers should not be shocked about these meetings. We are just simply relieved -and finally feel vindicated- that the mainstream media picked up on SYRIZA's link to Soros, JP Morgan and other such hedge fund vultures. HellasFrappe has in the past revealed these links through countless articles -especially that of its link to Soros- but we were always accused by some of our readers of supporting 'conspiracy theories'. Now that this relationship is finally confirmed and being exposed by the mainstream media, and now that it clearly proves that SYRIZA has the same friends as George Papandreou once did, it should make some of our critics rethink about their decision on January 25th 2015. Why? Because their score is something that is going to affect all of us... as well as be paid by all of us. Is the term "duped again" too harsh?)

References in Greek - To Ethnos,  Logos Erimis, RealJewNews, rferl, Patrides, gulagbound,  Taxalia, HellasFrappe 1, pravoslavie, 
Company profiles from: Wikipedia, Bloomberg, Financial Times, New York Times,

BUSTED - Lawyer In Vatopedi Case Finally Convicted of Extortion

An Appeals Court convicted a Greek lawyer to 36 months in prison with a three-year suspension for extortion related to property transferred to the Vatopedi Monastery. The case is related to property claims of farmers renting land in Nea Redestos, which had been transferred to the Vatopedi Monastery on Mont Athos and was then sold to the company "Anthemias".

The case came to light when a video emerged showing the lawyer, Mihalis Koukouvinos, asking for money from a businessman to block the legal actions of the farmers.

Apart from extortion, Koukouvinos was also found guilty of fraud at misdemeanor level for a transaction involving one of his clients.

Here are the controversial videos that clearly show this criminal act and prove that the infamous Vatopedi case was based on a lawyer (or extortionist) who took advantage of an issue that had already been decided by the PASOK party in the late 90s. As you will see, the case has nothing to do with what you have come to know about the Vatopedi case.

Since the beginning, HellasFrappe has noted that this so called scandal was never a scandal to begin with. The only reason many may still believe that it was a scandal is because it was formulated to bring down the government of former ND leader Costas Karamanlis.

Keep in mind, that until the Vatopedi case came to light, Karamanlis was extremely popular with Greek voters and the establishment" who was desperate to bring George Papandreou to power was striking at his government (from morning to night via the Greek and int.'t media). Why? They were against Karamanlis' pivot to Russia -via the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline-, angry with Karamanlis' veto to FYROM's accession to NATO and certainly not pleased with Karamanlis' stance on the destructive Annan plan for Cyprus. They wanted to bring him down and out of the way.

After setting off a destructive plot (named the Pythia plot) to take down his government, as well as attempting to assassinate him, they took advantage of a local extortionist case and glamorized it to the international media by making it look like he was supporting greedy monks.

Below you can view the two controversial videos that were aired in late 2008 following George Papandreou's "money exists" speech at the Thessaloniki Trade Fair. A speech, which we all know, was PASOK's bow to the establishment and the beginning of the Troika's entrance to Greece. Following this, we have also posted a link to read the original story that is connected to this article which proves that there was never any scandal to begin with.

If you want to find out the truth about this issue then we suggest that you read HellasFrappe's Special Report by Clicking HERE

     When the Vatopedi case comes to mind people automatically characterize it as a scandal where money laundering and embezzlement walked hand in hand between government officials and simple Monks. This is because both the domestic and international press worked hard at spreading many falsifications about this case, which today are very difficult to prove otherwise.
     The reason is obvious: The case has never been presented to the public in the correct manner for all the obvious reasons. Vatopedi was the tool used by the "establishment" to bring down the popular Karamanlis government which we all know had turned its back on the West and was looking towards Russia and the BRICS countries for prosperity. (In terms of energy and pipelines).
      What some people do not know is that the Vatopedi issue basically surfaced -or made it to prime time- when the government of Karamanlis declined to help oligarch D. Kontominas out of a swindling deal. Kontominas, the enigmatic Greek billionaire known for numerous international financial swindles, and who is the owner of ALPHA Television channel in Greece, was accused a decade ago for criminal acts which his companies conducted in other foreign countries (especially in Africa). 

Read more by Clicking HERE

Papakonstantinou Finally Faces Special Court - Time For Justice

Former Minister of Finance George Papakonstantinou (under the George Papandreou government) finally took the stand in the Special Court on Wednesday, where he is now expected to address the charges that have been brought against him in relation to the controversial Lagarde list. In his opening statement the former minister denied the charges and said that he is innocent.

Papakonstantinou is charged with tampering with an official State document as well as an attempted breach of faith. It should be reminded that Papakonstantinou was charged with tampering with the Lagarde list, which contains the names of more than 2,000 Greeks -and suspected tax evaders- with cash deposits at a Geneva branch of HSBC in an effort to remove the names of three of his relatives.

Reports claim that the Court might focus on the criminal liabilities of Papakonstantinou, rather than the general social, financial or political landscape.

Papakonstantinou was referred to the Special Court by the Supreme Court’s Judicial Council.

The 'Lagarde list' is an electronic file that was sent to the Greek finance ministry by French authorities several years ago, containing the names of wealthy Greeks with sizable deposits in the Geneva-based branch of HSBC. It was received when Papakonstantinou was finance minister, under the (very controversial) George Papandreou government.

We suggest that you also read:

Falciani: Sarkozy "Blackmailed" Papandreou To Accept The Troika Because His Mother's Name is on Lagarde List
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2015/02/falciani-sarkozy-blackmailed-papandreou.html

Ta Nea Report Claims 86 entries missing from “Lagarde List”
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2015/02/ta-nea-report-claims-86-entries-missing.html

Supreme Court’s Judicial Council Refers Papakonstantinou to Special Court
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2014/12/supreme-courts-judicial-council-refers.html

Papandreou Offended For Being Included In Lagarde Scandal Probe
http://hellasfrappe.blogspot.gr/2013/01/papandreou-offended-for-being-included.html

Dedicated the s.c.u.m. that took power in October 2009. One by one you will all fall down!

BUSTED: New Clip Proves That Western Mercenaries Are On The Ground in Mariupol (VIDEOS)

Amid the recent devastation in the area of Mariupol, (which was even more violent than before the truce was signed last year) a strange video clip has emerged on the web that appears to provide to prove without a shadow of a doubt that US military boots are on the ground in Ukraine.

It should be reminded that Kiev’s troops and Donbass militia forces are locked in renewed hostilities in southeastern Ukraine after a shaky ceasefire reached by the sides in September utterly collapsed. Ukrainian forces launched a massive offensive in mid-January, but failed to gain any ground despite employing tanks, artillery and aviation.

In the clip below, a Ukrainian journalist approaches what she thinks is a Ukrainian soldier (since he is wearing a Ukrainian military uniform and is carrying an AK rifle) and asked him as they run through the battle zone, "tell me, what happened here?"

His response, which requires no translation, speaks for itself. In a perfect American accent he states "out of my face, out of my face".

This clip raises many questions about the US involvement in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Which raises another question: Did the West also stage the Mariupol massacre as well?

Here is the controversial clip:

Obviously, and without a shadow of a doubt, this is Smoking Gun Evidence of Western mercenaries in Mariupol! HellasFrappe agrees with the commentator of the video who clearly states that the man obviously speaks fluent English and as we can all see he is wearing fatigues known to be worn by American and Western mercenaries. Obviously the man pictured in the video... is just part of the Western backed forces from all across the globe, including Australia and Canada!

Here is another clip:

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government called for a state of emergency.

     "In accordance with the Ukrainian Code of Civil Protection, the Cabinet of Ministers has adopted a decision to recognize an emergency situation at a state level," Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk announced was cited as saying by Interfax-Ukraine.

According to him, the move is aimed at providing the most efficient coordination of all government agencies in order to ensure civil protection and the safety of the population. The statement was made after the field meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, which took place at the headquarters of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kiev on Monday.

(Combined Reports - Youtube, Interfax)

Special Examining Magistrate Takes On Case Of George Karatzaferis

A special examining magistrate is going to be assigned on the case of the inaccurate source of wealth ("pothen esches") statement that was submitted by LAOS leader George Karatzaferis. It should be reminded that Karatzaferis is accused of receiving the amount of 1.6 million euros in two installments in 2007 and 2008, via the offshore company Catalina Ltd which he allegedly owned jointly with his son. The remittances, claim the same press reports, were allegedly sent by entrepreneur Alexandros Tsatsos who together with entrepreneur Stavros Komnopoulos, who appear as the middlemen for the purchase by the state of four Super Puma helicopters in late 2000 that cost roughly 64 million euros. Both businessmen as well as three retired military officers are expected to also be summonsed to testify (after January 12th). All five face charges of active and passive bribery as well as money laundering.

(The French company reportedly acted as a middleman in the purchase of four AS 332 CI Super Puma helicopters from the Eurocopter firm in 2000, which cost a whopping 61,741,925 million euros, with a juicy 5.5 million euro commission.)

If one goes back a few years, then everything becomes perfectly clear. It is a well known fact that when LAOS was in Parliament, Karatzaferis, and the members of his party (who today defected over to the ND party), often expressed a special interest in the supplies of the armed forces. The interest was so pressing that on April 28th, 2011 the Minister of National Defense who at the time was Evangelos Venizelos, was forced to publicly admit that Karatzaferis often visited him to ask when Greece would receive two submarines. Later on in Parliament he would skillfully encourage his MPs to ask questions on the matter. Also, the leader of LAOS more or less defended Akis Tsohatzopoulos (in Parliament) and even his off shore companies. (Tsochatzopoulos is serving time for accepting kickbacks and bribes in the sale of defence systems as well).

Some readers of HellasFrappe have criticized our blog for being very critical with Karatzaferis. Indeed we have been on more than one occasion, but we did not do this out of menace or prejudice. We also did not do this because he was a rival to former PM Costas Karamanlis, whom we still support. The reason we were highly critical over Karatzaferis in the past is because we constantly questioned the origin of his vast wealth. We were never convinced -and through our countless articles- often hinted that he was "selling" something else other than a few political lines to his voters. From what we see, we were spot on. He was indeed buying and selling everything from people to defence systems.

In the mid 1980s Karatzaferis was supposedly combating the state television monopoly and had joined a so-called anti-propaganda machine against PASOK. He wandered through the streets with a camera and would make his own news bulletins, the tapes of which he would later “sell” (make your own conclusions on what exactly it was he was selling and to whom -and at what price-).

His efforts may have been quite amateur at the time, and downright silly, but he always gave the impression to (a large percentage of his audience that is) that he was fighting for free information and freedom of speech. His theatrical and charismatic skills paid off and in no time he established his own television channel which in all honesty was hardly noticed by the general public.

Most people would agree that he has audacity, and always comes across as being very blunt. This is probably why he created a school of nationalists who were infused with neoliberal and neodemocratic ideologies through his channel.

This all developed even further when Christodoulos was elected as the Archbishop of Athens and all of Greece. At the time, Karatzaferis -being the opportunist that he was/is-, decided to put on his best Christian suit. The moralistic, religious and nationalistic turn of Greek society, with its congregations, banners and protests over ID cards that occurred at the height of Christodoulos' reign as Archbishop, and it was manipulated (100 percent) by Karatzaferis. He actually was portrayed as the defender against the New World Order -especially during the period 1996-2004 or during Costas Simitis’ rule, and later on as the protector of the Orthodox faith (since at least 95 percent of the Greek population is Orthodox).

In the same period, Karatzaferis also purposely collided with his own party leader Costas Karamanlis, and after literally insulting him with obnoxious and sexual innuendos he was luckily expelled from the conservative party and never allowed to return.

So Karatzaferis did what he does best, he decided to bank on the opportunity and following the elections in 2000 he established the LAOS party. He went door to door and spoke to many people preaching about what is honorable and at the time quite a few people bought in on his play, especially in Northern Greece. So much so that during the municipal elections in 2002, his forces strengthened further. At some point the Golden Dawn party began to become active as well and it is a well known fact that some members from GD found their way on his ballots.

After receiving 14% of the vote, Karatzaferis the puritan and defender of all that is good and just -and who today is ready to be charged with money-laundering- transformed again and this time became a preacher of morals, nationalism, sensationalism and the defender of the status quo. Who can forget the summer of 2002 when he wandered from television station to television station indicating possible terrorist hideouts? Just 12 years later the man who manipulated the slogan "country, religion, family" (patris, thriskeia, oikogeneia), is set to be charged for taking millions of Euros (or Greek payers tax money) in kickbacks and bribes!

It is almost too comical. In the day he would promote the cross that decorated his emblem, swear allegiance to the country, the church and the nation and at night he would discuss what types of defence systems were better for Greece, given that he received a kickback or two.

Frappers, the case of Karatzaferis is just another example of the fading credibility of Greece's political system. This grand (lying) moralist was fooling society in the worst possible way, and we cannot say that we are upset that his true face has finally been revealed.

Opportunists such as Karatzaferis are too obvious to us and we knew from day one that he was dipping into the honey jar while pretending to preach the truth. Again, this was not because we were more inclined to Costas Karamanlis -who was and forever will be a big rival of Karatzaferis- but because we knew in our gut that it was all fake.

Over the last few weeks many startling facts about his wealth have surfaced and one would think that he would have the decency to explain himself, or to at least offer to give back this money to the state. Unfortunately he hasn't and the few words that he has muttered are only to defend his own likelihood. We are not convinced, on the contrary we believe that all he is doing is buying some time in order to prepare for the storm ahead. All this from the man who defended George Papandreou with a menace in 2008 against Karamanlis, who a few years later signed the First Memorandum and endorsed it on all levels, and the man who always placed the Mitsotakis family -and especially Dora Bakoyianni- above Costas Karamanlis.

Let us hope that the investigation continues and may it reveal the responsibilities of those who are implicated. This bribery scourge, which obviously flourished for many years in this sector, has to finally come to an end.

Related articles

• Get Ready Ellada - Papandreou Forms New Political Party
• Guess Who Is Back? - Papandreou Hints At Establishing New Party

Heavy sentences for members of Conspiracy of Fire terrorist group

An Athens criminal court on Monday sentenced 15 young people accused of being members of terrorist group Conspiracy of Fire with sentences that range anywhere from five to 25 years. Some of the members had already been convicted of other crimes, a report on the online To Vima news service said.

Three of the accused received 25 years in jail; another three members were sentenced to 24 years and 2 months; one member was sentenced to 21 years and 9 months; one other to 20 years; another member to 19 years; another member to 16 years in absentia; two other members were sentenced to 14 years; one to 6 years; and finally one member was sentenced to only five years.

One member, a woman, was acquitted of being part of the organization, but was sentenced to six years as an accessory to several counts of weapons possession and a 16th defendant, male, was also acquitted of membership in the terrorist organization but received 6 months (suspended for three years), for the misdemeanor of a weapon possession.

Trial of Papakonstantinou to begin Feb.25th

The trial of former finance minister George Papakonstantinou is scheduled to begin on February 25th. The date of the trial was announced by Nicholas Passos, the head of the Special Court that is assigned to try the former minister.

Among other things, Papakonstantinou is charged of striking the names of his relatives and their husbands from a list of Swiss bank accounts from the HSBC branch in Geneva. France's then-finance minister Christine Lagarde, now head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), forwarded a part of the list to the Greek government, hence the widely-used name of "Lagarde List".

For more on this story click HERE to read background

Supreme Court’s Judicial Council Refers Papakonstantinou to Special Court

Former Minister of Finance George Papakonstantinou was referred to the Special Court on Thursday by the Supreme Court’s Judicial Council, on charges of distorting documents and attempted infidelity.

The Judicial Council cleared Papakonstantinou of the breach of conduct charges and at the same time also cleared three of his family members of instigation charges, in relation to accounts contained in the controversial Lagarde List which the former Minister is accused of tampering.

The 'Lagarde list' is an electronic file that was sent to the Greek finance ministry by French authorities several years ago, containing the names of Greeks with sizable deposits in the Geneva-based branch of HSBC. It was received when Papakonstantinou was finance minister, under the (very controversial) George Papandreou government.

When the list was sent to Greece, it suddenly disappeared and only resurfaced after several months, without any action to follow up the information it contained.

The USB stick was eventually given to Prime Minister Antonis Samaras by none other than Evangelos Venizelos -who apparently succeeded Papakonstantinou as finance minister-.

The deception was actually revealed after French authorities provided a second copy of the list to Greek authorities and Venizelos was forced to materialize the USB stick. Further investigation showed that the copies in the hands of Greek authorities had been tampered with and some names removed, including depositors that were first cousins with Papakonstantinou.

As such, the public prosecutor that was assigned to the case proposed that Papakonstantinou be indicted on charges of breach of faith, violation of duty and doctoring a document. At the same time he also proposed that his cousin Helen Papakonstantinou, her husband Simeon Sikiaridis and Andreas Rossonis also face the same fate.

The proposal was made several months ago to the Judicial Council, which then convened so as to deliver the relevant Ordinance.

The ordinance that was issued today is irrevocable (ie not subject to any appeal) and is scheduled to be indulged within a ten day period of its release to Papakostadinou as well as to the President of the Greek Parliament.

Now that the ordinance refers Papakonstadinou to trial, the Head of the Greek Parliament has to hold a draw, which will choose the members of the Supreme Court and the State Council that are to rule the case. Basically he has to draw 13 names, and six more alternate names so that the formation of the Special Court (council of judges) is achieved.

The members of the Supreme Court are expected to number seven and six more of the CoE, while the highest ranking member of the Supreme Court is going to exercise presidential duties.

As such, the President of the Special Court, after receiving the list with the names that were drawn in Parliament, must  set a court date within 60 days, along with the place of the official court meeting and the list of witnesses.

Papakonstantinou, who has the right to be represented with up to three lawyers, also has the right not to appear in court. Nonetheless the case will still stand trial whether or not he is there, as was the case with Andreas Papandreou in the Koskotas scandal trial in April of 1991.

It should be noted that Papakonstantinou is not protected by the statue of limitations, which dictates that offenses allegedly committed by ex-ministers expire if two parliaments have sat since the offense.

Let us not forget that the case also accused the former head of the Financial Crime squad Yiannis Diotis and Yiannis Kapeleris of foul play.

Diotis, who was given a copy of the Lagarde list on a memory stick by Papakonstantinou, is alleged to have modified it and faces charges of stealing an official document, while Diotis’s predecessor Kapeleris, who Papakonstantinou gave a sample of 20 names from the list to investigate, faces charges of breach of faith.

Papakonstantinou has kept low after being released on bail, but is still required to appear before police authorities every 15 days. He has denied all charges and claims that he is being made a scapegoat for the inaction of others (meaning Venizelos) and his later departure from government.

The indictment of Papakonstantinou, who undoubtedly has enormous responsibilities in this scandalous case, simply reminds us of how corrupt and distraught the whole political system in Greece actually is.

HellasFrappe also firmly believes that this very same "system" has manipulated the financial crisis so as to acquit people like George Papandreou, and EU puppet Evangelos Venizelos. However, as with every crime there is never a perfect crime, so once you do the crime sooner or later you will have to pay the time.

In any case, George Papakonstantino will be the first politician after the late Andreas Papandreou, Menio Koutsogiorga, Dimitri Tsovola, Panagiotis Roumeliotis and George Petsos who will face a Special Court.

Let us hope he begins talking....

*Editor's Note - The PASOK party and three decades of proven scandals... No the truth is not a technological breakdown in the "system" it is simply the the road to hell. - The song below is dedicated exclusively to the once mighty PASOK party that once again proved to us how rotten -and corrupt to the core- it really is.-)

BUSTED - IKA governor Could Be Facing Fraud Charges

Social Insurance Fund (IKA) governor Rovertos Spyropoulos (a high ranking official from PASOK) could be possibly facing charges for breaching of faith and aggravated fraud against the state, according to a proposal tabled to a Judicial Council by the prosecutor investigating the case of a supermarket chain with million-euro debts to the social insurance organisation.

The case file, according to a report from ANA-MPA, concerns a decision by Spyropoulos to lift the confiscation order of bank accounts that belonged to "Arvanitidis" supermarket chain even though the company owed to IKA 18 million euros in contributions.

The report notes that the prosecutor believes that the two company owners should be charged with moral complicity.

The decision made by Spyropoulos to lift the confiscation of the bank accounts in question, adds the same report, caused damages to the social insurance organization, considering that within a few days after the decision, large amounts, that could have been impounded to repay the debt, disappeared from the company's bank accounts, the prosecutor underlined.

On his part, Spyropoulos has denied all charges, and maintains that all his actions were legal (but then again we have heard this before from many PASOK officials). He has also said that he asked that the confiscation order be lifted to give time to the company to settle its outstanding debts and backpay to its employees, enter a settlement with IKA and avoid bankruptcy.

BUSTED - 2 men convicted of illicit antiquities trade

Two men received heavy prison sentences on Tuesday after being convicted by a court in the northern city of Thessaloniki for smuggling of antiquities in a case that was first revealed on October 2011. According to a report by the sate news agency ANA-MPA, one of the defendants was sentenced to 20 years of prison, while the second received 8 years and was released conditionally, pending his appeal.

The report claims that the men were arrested by police in 2011 as they were preparing to sell several ancient artifacts valued at 11.5 million euros. The priceless goods were part of a large Macedonian treasure which they had hidden in the area of Gerakarou, near the city of Thessaloniki.

Authorities took on the case after the Greek Ministry of Culture received an anonymous letter revealing the men’s connection to illicit antiquities trade.

It is reported that among the treasures recovered by police were four helmets, golden masks and mouthpieces, a glass vase, clay and metallic vessels, clay figurines, rosettes and other golden objects, including a section of a golden diadem with embossed decoration, and fragments of an iron sword with decoration.

One of the antiquities smugglers also showed police the two archaic tombs from which they stole most of the objects.

The artifacts were so important that after they were confiscated, they were transferred to the National Archaeological Museum of Athens where they were officially presented.

BUSTED - Probe Finds 6mln Euros in Karatzaferis offshore accounts

The ongoing investigation into finances of LAOS president George Karatzaferis' suspected wealth and money in several off-shore companies, demonstrates that the commissions from the sale of defence systems and weapons are far more widespread than what one could imagine. This new scandal also shows us that the interest by some individuals in Greece's national issues does not necessarily stem on the fact that they are patriots, but is really about how they will fatten their wallets.

So far, the investigation has revealed about 6 million Euros in his accounts. The money, according to press reports, appears to have been generated from a series of bribes related to various military armament contracts. If the charges hold ground then Karatzaferis could possibly face three felonies (money laundering, submitting a false asset declaration and illegally owning an off-shore company) - given that the case goes to trial.

So far, the investigation has shown that 5.5 million Euros were found in two offshore accounts belonging to Karatzaferis, but it has also brought to the surface the names of five other people who are apparently also involved in the bribes. In fact, some reports claim that a close family member of Karatzaferis could also be facing similar charges.

Prosecutor Panagiotis Brakoumatsos is waiting for a confirmation from the Greek Parliament some time next week regarding the aforementioned charges.

Meanwhile, a report in To Vima exposed the individuals involved in the bribes (from the above total) with noted names such as Th. Moschos, I. Rammos and P. Strantzalis which it said are military officers, and Stavros Komnopoulos and Alexandros Tsatsos who it added are owners of the French Kestrel company.

It should be noted that the French company reportedly acted as a middleman in the purchase of four AS 332 CI Super Puma helicopters from the Eurocopter firm in 2000, which cost a whopping 61,741,925 million euros, with a juicy 5.5 million euro commission.

If one goes back a few years, then everything becomes perfectly clear. It is a well known fact that when LAOS was in Parliament, Karatzaferis, and the members of his party (who today defected over to the ND party), often expressed a special interest in the supplies of the armed forces. The interest was so pressing that on April 28th, 2011 the Minister of National Defense who at the time was Evangelos Venizelos, was forced to publicly admit that Karatzaferis often visited him to ask when Greece would receive two submarines. Later on in Parliament he would skillfully encourage his MPs to ask questions on the matter. Also, the leader of LAOS more or less defended Akis Tsohatzopoulos (in Parliament) and even his off shore companies. (Tsochatzopoulos is serving time for accepting kickbacks and bribes in the sale of defence systems as well).

Some readers of HellasFrappe have criticized our blog for being very critical with Karatzaferis. Indeed we have been on more than one occasion, but we did not do this out of menace or prejudice. We also did not do this because he was a rival to former PM Costas Karamanlis, whom we still support. The reason we were highly critical over Karatzaferis in the past is because we constantly questioned the origin of his vast wealth. We were never convinced -and through our countless articles- often hinted that he was "selling" something else other than a few political lines to his voters. From what we see, we were spot on. He was indeed buying and selling everything from people to defence systems.

In the mid 1980s Karatzaferis was supposedly combating the state television monopoly and had joined a so-called anti-propaganda machine against PASOK. He wandered through the streets with a camera and would make his own news bulletins, the tapes of which he would later “sell” (make your own conclusions on what exactly it was he was selling and to whom -and at what price-).

His efforts may have been quite amateur at the time, and downright silly, but he always gave the impression to (a large percentage of his audience that is) that he was fighting for free information and freedom of speech. His theatrical and charismatic skills paid off and in no time he established his own television channel which in all honesty was hardly noticed by the general public.

Most people would agree that he has audacity, and always comes across as being very blunt. This is probably why he created a school of nationalists who were infused with neoliberal and neodemocratic ideologies through his channel.

This all developed even further when Christodoulos was elected as the Archbishop of Athens and all of Greece. At the time, Karatzaferis -being the opportunist that he was/is- decided to put on his best Christian suit. The moralistic, religious and nationalistic turn of Greek society, with its congregations, banners and protests over ID cards that occurred at the height of Christodoulos' reign as Archbishop, was manipulated by Karatzaferis and he suddenly came across as being the defender against the New World Order -especially during the period 1996-2004 or during Costas Simitis’ rule, and the protector of the Orthodox faith (since at least 95 percent of the Greek population is Orthodox).

In the same period, Karatzaferis also purposely collided with his own party leader Costas Karamanlis, and after literally insulting him with obnoxious innuendos was expelled from the party and never allowed to return.

So Karatzaferis did what he does best, he decided to bank on the opportunity and following the elections in 2000 he established the LAOS party. He went door to door and spoke to many people preaching about what is just and what is honorable and at the time quite a few people bought in on his play, especially in Northern Greece. So much so that during the municipal elections in 2002, his forces strengthened further. At some point the Golden Dawn party began to become active as well and it is a well known fact that some members from GD found their way on his ballots.

After receiving 14% of the vote, Karatzaferis the puritan and defender of all that is good and just -and who today is ready to be charged with money-laundering- transformed again and this time became a preacher of morals, nationalism, sensationalism and the defender of the status quo. Who can forget the summer of 2002 when he wandered from television station to television station indicating possible terrorist hideouts? Just 12 years later the man who sold the ideologies of "country, religion, family" (patris, thriskeia, oikogeneia), is set to be charged for taking millions of Euros (or Greek payers tax money) in kickbacks and bribes!

It is almost too comical. In the day he would promote the cross that decorated his emblem, swear allegiance to the country, the church and the nation and at night he would discuss what types of defence systems were better for Greece, given that he received a kickback or two.

Frappers, the case of Karatzaferis is just another example of the fading credibility of Greece's political system. This grand (lying) moralist was fooling society in the worst possible way, and we cannot say that we are upset that his true face has finally been revealed.

Opportunists such as Karatzaferis are too obvious to us and we knew from day one that he was dipping into the honey jar while pretending to preach the truth. Again, this was not because we were more inclined to Costas Karamanlis -who was and forever will be a big rival of Karatzaferis- but because we new in our gut that it was all fake.

Over the last few days many startling facts about his wealth have surfaced and one would think that he would have the decency to explain himself, or to at least offer to give back this money to the state. Unfortunately he hasn't and the few words that he has muttered are only to defend his own likelihood. Again, we are not convinced, on the contrary we believe that all he is doing is buying some time in order to prepare for the storm ahead. All this from the man who defended George Papandreou with a menace in 2008 against Karamanlis, who a few years later signed the First Memorandum and endorsed it on all levels, and the man who always placed the Mitsotakis family -and especially Dora Bakoyianni- above Costas Karamanlis.

Let us hope that the investigation continues and may it reveal the responsibilities of those who are implicated. This bribery scourge, which obviously flourished for many years in this sector, has to finally come to an end.

HellasFrappe Team