Athens News Agency: News in English (AM), 99-08-04

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr>

NEWS IN ENGLISH

ATHENS, GREECE, 04/08/1999 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Greece expresses support for Robertson candidacy to head NATO
• Tax squad finds major violations by SA firms
• Stocks creep up in directionless trade
• Sanyo Hellas to produce digital technology
• Mutual fund assets total Dr 10.4 trillion in July
• Merchant fleet gains tonnage
• Petzetakis shows profit jump
• ELVAL deal with Dubai Investment group
• Athens 2004 committee lauds Avramopoulos initiative
• Kranidiotis begins talks in Israel
• Hellenic Petroleum on Skopje refinery issue
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

Deputy Defence Minister Dimitris Apostolakis yesterday announced Greece's support for the candidacy of British Defence Minister George Robertson to the post of NATO Secretary General, while at the same time refuting recent British and German press reports citing alleged reservations by Athens.

"Mr. Robertson is a known personality and we believe that he will appropriately meet his responsibilities, with the difficulties he will face during this exceptionally difficult period for NATO," Mr. Apostolakis told the BBC.

The deputy defence minister said he hoped the other NATO member-states would consent to the Robertson candidacy in order to secure the necessary unanimity required for the British minister's appointment to "this particularly demanding office, now that t he alliance is going through a reconstruction and redefinition phase".

"After the recent crisis in the Balkans there will be numerous decisions to be taken, and we believe that Mr. Robertson will contribute so that these decisions are correct," Mr. Apostolakis said.

Replying to a question about Athens' expectations from Mr. Robertson concerning the Greek-Turkish relations, the deputy defence minister said "we will press on, so that the requirements, also set forth by NATO regarding good relations between the two countries are met, and so that no NATO me mber-state is threatened by an ally in any way, and so that the democratic and human rights principles prevail."

To a question on whether there were any reassurances by Mr. Robertson on such a clear NATO position, the Greek minister said there were none at the moment, adding: "these are NATO's avowed positions and they are projected as positions and values that must be understood and followed by everyone and consequently they must exist and be supported -- if not enforced -- on relations among all NATO member-states."

Tax squad finds major violations by SA firms

The government's financial crimes squad reported yesterday that spot checks on 335 companies had unearthed tax violations totalling more than 13 billion drachmas.

The companies in Athens and Thessaloniki were found to have obtained fraudulent invoices and entered them in their books in order to beef up expenses, thereby reducing income tax and value added tax liabilities.

"The findings of the tax squad's checks demonstrate the government's determination to combat tax evasion. The state now possesses effective control mechanisms to ensure proper enforcement of tax legislation, protecting honest taxpay-ers," National Econo my and Finance Minister Yiannos Papantoniou told reporters.

The drachma figure given by the financial crimes squad is an estimate from the checks so far, comprising the value of violations plus fines and surcharges.

Audits of the company's books are continuing and the grand total for violations may be much higher than the current one, the finance ministry said in a statement.

Three SA companies alone accounted for 3,074,396,898 drachmas' worth of fake invoices, about half of the total, the ministry said.

It added that the names of the companies would be placed on a register of tax offenders along with any individuals linked to the issue or receipt of false invoices, so that tax-paying members of the public were warned.

In addition, the national economy ministry would release the names of the companies in November at the same time as the country's budget, an established practice.

Of the 335 companies, 125 had SA status and accounted for 3.6 billion drachmas' worth of fake invoices. Another 76 were limited liability companies, and the remainder smaller enterprises.

The tax squad found a total of 1,375 violations for 1989-1997.

By the end of August, the findings of the checks on the companies will have been sent to their tax offices in order to impose fines on the offenders, and launch court action, the statement said.

The receipt of fraudulent invoices is punishable by imprisonment of three or more months and the closure of the enterprise for up to a month if the fraudulent tax data exceeds 80 million drachmas.

The main culprit in the issue of the fake invoices was named as Theodoros Kalamaras, who was already known to the financial crimes squad, the ministry said.

Stocks creep up in directionless trade

Equities ended slightly higher yesterday in the wake of seven straight declines but trade was directionless as players await the outcome this week of a takeover bid for Ergobank, a blue chip on the bourse.

The general index ended 0.38 percent higher at 4,328.79 points from 4, 312.25 points in the previous session.

Turnover was 156.593 billion drachmas from 159.974 billion drachmas a day earlier.

Changing hands were 26,884,926 stocks. Sector indices ended as follows: Banks (+0.71 pct), Leasing (+0.43 pct), Insurance (+5.19 pct), Investment (+0.08 pct), Construction (+0.68 pct), Industrials (+0.35 pct), Miscellaneous (-0.36 pct) and Holding (-3. 00 pct).

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended 2.56 percent higher. The FTSE/ASE 20 index for heavily traded stocks and blue chips rose 0.21 percent to finish at 2,478.20 points.

Of 284 shares traded, advances outpaced declines at 162 to 120 with 12 issues unchanged.

National Bank of Greece ended at 21,250 drachmas, Alpha Credit Bank at 21, 450, Bank of Piraeus at 8,670, Ergobank at 30,045, Titan Cement (commom) at 30,450, Hellenic Petroleum at 2,820 and Intracom (common) at 20,190 drachmas.

Sanyo Hellas to produce digital technology

Sanyo Hellas Holding SA announced yesterday that it was creating a subsidiary, named Mellon SA, to produce digital technology multi-application plastic cards, entry tickets carrying a magnetic tape and blank CDs.

The cards can be modified for applications including smart cards and cards for ATM transactions.

Sanyo will have a 90 percent stake in the new Komotini-based company, investing three billion drachmas.

Mutual fund assets total Dr 10.4 trillion in July

Assets of the country's 190 mutual funds totalled 10.4 trillion drachmas in July, up 2.7 per cent on the previous month, the Union of Institutional Investors said yesterday.

Contributing to the rise was an increase in the assets of domestic equity funds by 312.22 percent since the beginning of the year, the union said in a statement.

Merchant fleet gains tonnage

The country's merchant fleet gained 70,000 tonnes in July, the merchant marine ministry said yesterday.

Joining the Greek flag were six vessels, while four ships departed the register, leading to a net gain.

It was the second straight monthly rise for the fleet, the ministry said in a statement.

Petzetakis shows profit jump

The Petzetakis plastics group has more than doubled consolidated profits to 959 million drachmas in the first half from 413 million drachmas in the same period last year, despite provisions of 750 million drachmas for contingencies and increased depreciat ion.

The group's gross profits represented 37.3 percent of sales. The debt-to- equity ratio was 1.44, and is expected to improve further after a planned share capital increase pending shareholders' approval.

ELVAL deal with Dubai Investment group

The Hellenic Aluminium Industry S.A. (ELVAL) and Dubai Investment group are set to establish an aluminium rolling mill in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with a reported capacity of 60,000 tons per year.

According to a Reuters dispach, the 160-million-dollar investment will be completed by the year 2002.

The same reports stated that the new rolling mill will use primary aluminium from local sources, as Dubai and other states in the Persian Gulf region are major aluminium producers.

According to the dispach, the semi-products will be sold in markets of the region, mainly for packaging.

Dubai Investments was established in 1995 and has major stakes in several industrial and food sector activities.

Athens 2004 committee lauds Avramopoulos initiative

The leadership of the Athens 2004-Olympic Games organising committee yesterday welcomed an initiative by Athens Mayor Dimitris Avramopoulos to create the "Athens-Third Millennium" organisation in support of the entire effort.

The new president of the organising committee, Panayiotis Thomopoulos, and managing director Costas Bakouris issued a joint press release welcoming the creation of the new body.

"We always look forward, as we did in the past, to a constructive dialogue between all inistitutional partners, who are expressed and represented by the organising committee of the Olympic Games 'Athens 2004', which is the only responsible agency to th e International Olympic Committee.

"We believe that those proposals, as well as all those submitted by other municipalities and other agencies and through the multiministirial creative consideration by the revant bodies they will contribute to the success of the aim, the aim of all Gree ks," they concluded.

On Monday, Mr. Avramopoulos announced the creation of the "Athens-Third Millennium" in efforts to complement the "Athens 2004 Games" organising committee with which the municipality of Athens will continue its constructive cooperation.

Kranidiotis begins talks in Israel

Alternate Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis, who arrived on an official visit in Israel yesterday, is scheduled to meet today with counterpart David Levy and the minister to the prime minister's office, Chaim Ramon, for talks on bilateral relations, conditions in the region and an upcoming Israeli-Palestinian meeting in Athens. He is also expected to meet with the President of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat.

Hellenic Petroleum on Skopje refinery issue

Following recent press reports on the issue, Hellenic Petroleum S.A. yesterday issued a press release outlining its policy goals for Skopje's OKTA oil refinery, of which it recently acquired control.

Hellenic Petroleum said its expressed policy is to tap into energy sector investment opportunities in SE Europe, and that within this strategy, the group purchased a majority stake in the OKTA refinery and decided on the construction of a Thessaloniki-S kopje oil pipeline.

"It should be understood that the aim of Hellenic Petroleum is the creation of such investment structures, which will ensure the development of the energy market in the region," the press release stated.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Wednesday's rates (buying)
U.S. dollar          303.304
Pound sterling       490.246
Japanese yen (100)   262.741
French franc          49.240
German mark          165.145
Italian lira (100)    16.681
Irish Punt           410.120
Belgian franc          8.007
Finnish mark          54.324
Dutch guilder        146.569
Danish kr.            43.396
Austrian sch.         23.437
Spanish peseta         1.941
Swedish kr.           36.906
Norwegian kr.         38.122
Swiss franc          202.046
Port. Escudo           1.611
Can. dollar          202.051
Aus. dollar          197.954
Cyprus pound         559.131
Euro                 322.955

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