Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-12-05

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

CONTENTS

[01] Paleokrassas press conference makes political waves, claims graft persists at PPC

[02] November 17 appeals trial resumes

[01] Paleokrassas press conference makes political waves, claims graft persists at PPC

He also contradicted a claim by the government that his allegations of graft referred to the past, saying that it continued to exist at the PPC under the present government.

Paleokrassas continued to hold Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas responsible for imposing Stergios Nezis and Avraam Mizan to the PPC's managerial structure, pointing out that both men were involved in cases that he later referred to the public prosecutor.

At the same time, he explained that he was not accusing the high-ranking politicians he had referred to in an interview with the Greek daily "Kathimerini" of corruption but of being responsible for a campaign against him, personally.

The veteran politician and former PPC chief also stressed that he did not consider that Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis had disappointed his hopes or deceived him, while adding that others were responsible for the decision to have him removed.

Elaborating on his allegations concerning the internal workings of the PPC, Paleokrassas said the problem lay with executives within the organisation and particularly within the Production Department.

He accused them of organising rigged tenders, where the requirements were tailor-made to fit specific companies, so that there were no more than two and sometimes only one company left in the bidding at the final stage.

After the year 2000, the rigged tenders were replaced by the direct award of contracts to a select few companies that he had referred to in his resignation letter as "national suppliers", the former PPC chief alleged.

Paleokrassas presented figures showing that, in the past five years, the PPC had awarded projects worth �520 million to the company METKA alone, while a further �196 million had been given to Athena, �102 million to AEGEK and �4.3 million to Damco Energy.

He also referred at length to the seven cases that he had sent to the public prosecutor in February that had led to Nezis resigning and accused the board of the PPC of refusing to change the way that projects and supply contracts were awarded.

Another issue raised by Paleokrassas were the hefty fees paid out by the PPC to outside legal counsel over cases - such as that of the Lavrio power station - that had been referred to EU courts, even though it had its own legal service with 100 staff.

The claim was partly disputed by PPC's legal consultant A. Economou, who said that the PPC legal service was made up of 53 and not 100 lawyers and that it had handled all its own cases since he had come on board in February this year, though seeking outside legal advice was not ruled out as an option.

Asked to comment on warnings by Sioufas and Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis that they would sue, Paleokrassas replied: "Let them sue then, but I can't understand why".

Concerning a statement last week by government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos, who said that the incidents of corruption referred to by the head of the PPC were in the past, Paleokrassas admitted having talked with Roussopoulos on the issue but denied that the graft had stopped when the government changed.

"Graft has deep roots and is continuing," he told reporters.

Paleokrassas, a former minister under previous New Democracy governments, was essentially forced to resign as head of the PPC last week when the government and prime minister insisted that he either submit evidence of alleged corruption in the PPC within hours or quit.

His career at the helm of the PPC has been controversial at best, with rumours running rife of disputes and opposition among its top management, while the company's financial performance during that time has been disappointing.

Paleokrassas' letter of resignation, submitted on Friday, was on Monday sent to the head of the Athens First-Instance Court Public Prosecutor's Office Dimitris Papangelopoulos. The letter had originally been sent by Alogoskoufis to Supreme Court Public Prosecutor Dimitris Linos, who is currently away on a trip abroad.

Sioufas and Alogoskoufis reply

Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas responded with a detailed reply to each of the points raised by Paleokrassas later on Monday, especially criticism that targeted himself.

Concerning the decision to keep Nezis on at the PPC after the Olympic Games, Sioufas said that the managing director would have been replaced by the government at an opportune time that best served the company's interests and with a person that would have been approved by Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis and Paleokrassas himself. Nezis had a contract with the PPC until the year 2007.

On the appointment of Mizan to head the Production Department, meanwhile, the minister stressed that the selection of PPC general managers was an internal affair of the company and that he had informed Paleokrassas verbally and in writing that he could not intervene as minister. Sioufas pointed out that the choice was made by a majority vote of the PPC board, whose members been approved by Paleokrassas, with only Paleokrassas voting against it.

Concerning the handling of the Lavrio power station case before the European Commission, Sioufas said that the development ministry's standing practice was to deal with these issues based on the recommendations of the company's own services.

The minister noted that no new evidence had been presented on Monday concerning the seven cases referred by Paleokrassas to justice and that the government was waiting for the results of the ongoing judicial investigation.

Replying to Paleokrassas' criticism that the higher electricity rates approved by the government were not enough to cover the PPC's rising production costs, Sioufas said that the ministry took into account the interests of shareholders but also of consumers and businesses.

Alogoskoufis commented briefly on the press conference before his departure for Brussels, saying that his concern as a shareholder was the drop in the PPC's capitalisation. He pointed out that the former head of the PPC had not revealed anything that was not already mentioned in his letter of resignation, which he sent to the public prosecutor.

Government backs Sioufas, says transparency is 'for all'

In a reaction to the press conference and the responses by the ministers, the government gave Sioufas its full backing and reiterated its position in favour of "transparency everywhere and for all".

Government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos underlined that Sioufas was well known for his "high moral standing, industriousness and efficiency, as well as his absolute dedication to good management and transparency".

Roussopoulos stressed that the government's position on issues of transparency was given: anyone having evidence of corruption should give it to justice.

"No action by the government has departed or will depart from this principle," he stressed.

Issues concerning the internal management of the PPC were governed by business management principles as was the case in all European countries, he added.

The spokesman stressed, meanwhile, that the cause of transparency was not helped by vague and general accusations that were not backed by specific facts or evidence. He strongly denied, meanwhile, that the government's stance was the equivalent of earlier challenges by then premier Costas Simitis to his critics in New Democracy to submit evidence of accusations to justice.

"Mr. Simitis was addressing the main opposition when he referred them to justice. This government is addressing its own members and officials, telling them that any evidence they find must not be covered up but must be sent to justice. There is a discernible difference," he said.

At another point, the spokesman said that those talking about graft had an obligation to put a name to their accusations, since "vague and general accusations that could not be proved lead to a series of mistaken impressions."

Concerning the former minister's future within the ruling party, Roussopoulos said he was not aware of any discussion within ND for his expulsion but said that the government had no present plans to use him in another position.

Opposition parties

Reacting to Paleokrassas' press conference, main opposition PASOK press spokesman Nikos Athanassakis said that the prime minister was "aware of, a participant and jointly responsible for all the things being discussed today".

"To use Paleokrassas' own phrase, for compromise with graft," Athanassakis added.

He accused the ruling party of using corruption as a "tool" for petty party politics and of refusing PASOK's offers for a common stance and joint action against the problem.

According to Athanassakis, the government had vainly tried to present the issue as concerning the past but Monday's statements by Paleokrassas made it clear that it was a present problem that concerned the present government.

The spokesman also stressed the PPC's ailing financial performance under ND's governance, saying this was another aspect of the "failure of its economic policies".

The press conference was also commented on by the left-wing parties in Parliament, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and the Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology.

KKE's announcement said it once again highlighted the "anti-working-class face of the 'deregulation' of the energy sector being promoted by the two main parties, in accordance with the directions given by the European Union and 'plutocracy'.

It also points to attempts to "shift the burden on popular consumption" by claiming that price hikes are necessary and "attempts to demolish the rights of workers in the energy sector".

According to the Coalition, Paleokrassas' resignation letter and press conference raised "major political issues for the government and great questions concerning the survival and reproduction of phenomena of graft within the PPC and, by extension, in state-run public utilities generally.

[02] November 17 appeals trial resumes

Preliminary matters, including a request by attorneys that transcripts be electronically recorded, along with discussion over a bevy of defence motions, dominated Monday's session at a specially modified courtroom within the women's section of the Korydallos penitentiary.

The president of the five-judge appellate level court told attorneys that, in principle, he would not have an objection to the request, as long as all the parties connected with the proceedings agree on the manner and entity chosen to fulfill the task.

Several defence attorneys, meanwhile, said the association of Athens daily newspapers was willing to offer technical assistance -- similar to the practice used in the first instance trial -- whereas prosecutor Euterpe Koutzamani (not Goutzamani as previously reported) expressed concerns over the procedure by which the court selects a private firm to implement the project.

As far as the motions are concerned, mostly for acquitting a variety of first instance convictions, Koutzamani proposed a rejection for all.

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