The chairman of the Investigative Committee for the collapse of the Co-operation, former judge George, warned the parliamentary Audit Committee yesterday about a big meal and an ongoing scandal against thousands of borrowers, with the involvement of Altamira, which manages the red loans of the Co-operation. He called on Parliament to intervene and consider the procedures followed by Altamira in assessing and selling loans. “Some people amass treasures and become millionaires,” Aresti said, adding that “people are suffering and they will take their loans and take them to Spain.” According to him, real estate worth € 100 thousand, was valued at € 20 thousand, due to the inability of the owner and the bankrupt borrower to proceed with his own assessment.
According to Mr. Arestis, Altamira, although a private company, is associated with KEDIPES, which is the evolution of the Cooperation. Citing the conclusion of the Research Committee, he stated that the Cooperation agreement with Altamira was not the most advantageous for the bank. He also noted that, due to poor corporate governance in the Co-operation, there was no progress with the red loans, headed by Barnabas Kourounas, who is now the director of Altamira.
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In addition, he claimed that both Mr. Kourounas and the general manager of the Co-operation, Nikolas Hatzigiannis, pushed, as he said, the agreement between the Co-operation and Altamira. He reminded that the report suggests the examination of criminal liability of Mr. Kourounas for the methods by which he promoted Altamira but also for criminal and disciplinary liabilities that may exist against the CEO of Cooperation Nikola Hatzigianni for Altamira for intentional acts and omissions.
For his part, Auditor General Odysseas Michailidis stated that the conclusion of the agreement was made “aron – aron” before the Cooperation was sold, “in a scandalous way”, in his expression, while he claimed that the agreement was methodized.
Risk of limitation of civil liability
The position of the Auditor General ignited fires in the Parliament, who argued that based on the law on the Limitation of Inviolable Rights, there is a danger that after three years the civil responsibilities will expire. As he said, in two months the margin of three years ends. In this regard, AKEL called on the Legal Service to submit a relevant written information to Parliament. The Auditor General also referred to the meetings held at the Legal Service, in which it was said that no responsibilities can be sought from the major shareholder of SKT (Minister of Finance) but there is also legislation for the restructuring of Financial Institutions, according to which the Minister of Finance or representative have no responsibilities unless it is serious negligence. The representative of the Legal Service, Ninos Kekkou, stated that there are cases for which the state can file civil lawsuits, but it has not done so due to the complex issues.
Criminal investigations are progressing slowly
On the other hand, the criminal investigations are proceeding normally despite the criticism of the opposition MPs that there is a delay in the delivery of justice. Justice Minister Emily Giolitis said investigations were progressing rapidly. Assistant Chief Christoforos Mavrommatis, noted that the investigative team is examining the loans received by officials (secretaries and commissioners) from 27 credit institutions and whether they were given on favorable terms. Also, the write-offs of loans made in 18 groups (natural and legal persons) are examined and according to the conclusion of the research, loans amounting to € 66 million were written off. The loans given to politically exposed persons will be put under the microscope of the investigating authorities, as soon as the investigation of the Audit Office. At the same time, over-indebtedness in loans, hosting costs, Altamira, the purchase of services by law firms and audit firms and advertisements are investigated. For the first three issues, the police case files will soon be sent to the Legal Service. Opposition lawmakers called on the police and the Legal Service to answer whether former Finance Minister Haris Georgiadis, Nikolas Hatizigiannis, Giannos Stavrinidis and Varnavas Kourounas were called to testify. Police declined to comment on the matter, while the Legal Service said that if there were any suspects, the police would not investigate cases.
For Hatzigianni company
It was mentioned in the discussion that the Tax Department examined whether there was tax evasion by the investment company of Nikolas Hatzigiannis, which has a turnover of € 0.5 billion, without finding anything. According to the Auditor General, the company was active when Mr. Hatzigiannis was General Manager of Cooperation, noting that it has not been identified whether there was a conflict of interest.
