ATHENS ROBS HOSPITALS TO PAY BOND HOLDERS AND ARMS MANUFACTURERS

Rodney Atkinson

When the nod was eventually given on the private sector bond deal done by Athens as a pre-condition of their new 130 billion Euro “rescue” deal some of the bonds were NOT rolled over but had, for various legal reasons, to be paid out. Where could the (intellectually, morally and financially) bankrupt Greek Government go to find the 1.4 billion Euros they needed? This “government” was of course hardly elected since its leader (a former Greek European Commissioner) was imposed on the country by the European Union.

Well (as reported on the excellent The Slog website) having slashed and cut everything else they only had one option – the bank accounts of public utilities which they controlled. So they took (EMBEZZLED would be a better word) money directly from the accounts of various utilities including Greek hospitals and Universities which had been deposited at the Bank of Greece.

Although this happened in early March it is only more recently that the facts came to light as these organisations signed cheques which subsequently bounced! The money had been taken without telling the actual account holders – amd must therefore have involved the Greek Central Bank.

Needless to say you can’t take hundreds of millions of Euros from hospitals and universities without catastrophic results which will now doubtless unfold – although, like Spannish or Italian riots you will not see much about it on the BBC.

I quote from the Slog website:

“The Slog contacted another of many Athens sources who have flocked to this website in recent weeks. This informant in turn offered access to a senior administrator in a major teaching hospital. The person thus contacted told me: “There can be no doubt about this. It isn’t even very subtle. All the monies were withdrawn over a brief period of time on March 8th after normal banking hours. I have spoken to teaching contacts at Universities over the weekend, and it has been confirmed that they too have the same embarrassment. These people are criminals who should be brought to justice. But in the Greece of today, it will not happen”.

Greece is due to enter a 5th year of recession in 2012 with a further 5% fall in output. Austerity measures will cut Greek living standards by 30% including a 9% cut in the welfare budget – at a time of 21% unemployed and nearly 50% youth unemployment. The Military budget has grown by 18%.

Yes – your eyes did not deceive you. The military budget has GROWN by 18%. And who has benefited from this extravagance by a bankrupt country? Well Germany has sold weapons including a submarine worth E336m and France has sold Greece E662m worth of military aircraft.

So we know where most of the money is going – to foreign banks and the German and French Governments and their armament corporations. And for that the accounts of Greek hospitals and universities have been secretly raided by the “Greek” Government under the tutelage of the EU, Germany, France and their placemen in Athens.