#georgiadis

This week’s newsletter from AthensLive is out:

* Novartis Scandal: Threats, blackmails, and a not-so-blind Justice * Greek government “Press doctrine”: Either spy on independent journalists or pretend they don’t exist * Mitsotakis keeps blaming the victims

- are the main headlines to be found inside this highly informative weekly must-read from and about Greece.

Editor who was turned into a defendant for doing his job as to the Novartis scandal, by handing evidence over that proved that the Bank of Greece Governor had blackmailed a key witness into committing perjury. At the same time, Greece comes under EU pressure to transpose the Whistleblower Directive. The government through National Intelligence EYP was intercepting journalist Thanasis Koukakis’s communications, a breaking report proved. At the same time, the government pretends independent media do not exist by just ignoring their requests for comment. PM Mitsotakis insulted jobless people by stating that they are unemployed due to a lack of qualifications. This comes at a time when economic hardship is even greater due to skyrocketing inflation.

Add to these headlines and main features a lot more overview and details about a variety of aspects of Greece during the week - together with an abundance of links to further reading and to more knowledge about Greece today.

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A provision is introduced for voting on the disclosure of companies that make a profit.

Three measures that the government will promote for a vote, in view of the emergency conditions, were announced by the Minister of Development and Investment, Adonis Georgiadis, from the floor of Parliament.

The time has come to protect the consumer from scams, said Mr. Georgiadis and announced that a provision for the disclosure of companies for scandal is being introduced for voting. The minister said the government was proposing the provision, without prejudice to any legal issues that might arise, and therefore sought the support of the parties "so that there is an additional argument in support of this provision in the courtroom".

"I want to be honest with both the companies and the judges who will be called to judge the order. We believe that the emergency conditions of the war do not allow us to act in a firefighting manner but we must act precautionarily. We will bring an order, according to the standards of the order due to covid, so that the General Secretariat for Consumer Affairs can publish the names of the companies to which fines are imposed for reasons of scandal. There will always be a reservation of any court decision of this administrative act by the court. But right now, for me, wartime profiteering is blackmail. We are in a time when no one can make more profit, taking advantage of the fact that there is global inflation and that there is a great deal of imported precision and to step on it to earn more money ", noted Mr. Georgiadis and added that the controls have already been intensified and are yielding. "It is the will of the Prime Minister, the government and me personally that we will not use any tools to help our fellow citizens, to overcome the great challenge of the illegal invasion of Ukraine and if we need to take even stricter measures in the future, we will be here. to do it ", he stressed.

The minister announced that a provision would be introduced that would set a 3% ceiling on professional lease increases from 1-1-2022 until the end of the year, so that companies can cope with the pressures they receive from "mainly imported inflation". "Although as a politician I am a liberal and I believe in market regulation, there are extraordinary circumstances that force us to take extraordinary measures. "We will introduce a special provision that will set a ceiling on the increase of rents for professional leases, for the whole of 2022, from 1-1-2022 to 3%", he pointed out.

We can consider the disclosure in case of recurrence of the same company, said the Minister of Development.

" Today I will sign a huge fine , the largest fine ever in the history of Greek trade in a large supermarket chain, because in a series of products that we checked, it had a greater profit margin," Mr. Georgiadis revealed, speaking to Radio North 98 of Thessaloniki, while for what was said in Parliament he stated: "I will not comment on the numbers that Tsipras and Velopoulos mentioned as super profits. The mere fact that they are 600 million apart says a lot. You can not know what are the profits of a company for 2021 if it does not publish balance sheets… »

Regarding the name of the supermarket chain, which Mr. Georgiadis did not name, as in all cases of fines imposed by the Ministry of Development, with the result that the consumer does not know the company that is speculating and remains unprotected, the minister said the following :.

"The law does not allow us to say the name of the chain (s.s .: that commits speculation) because any administrative act can be challenged in court. If I say the name of the chain but justice says that the fine should not have been entered, for the X reasons that the court will decide, this company will be able to prosecute me and the state in the courts. We impose a fine and if it continues, we will check again, the fine is doubled and then tripled and then quadrupled. We can consider the disclosure in case of recurrence of the same company ".

The Ministry of Development then issued the announcement imposing a fine of 647,000 euros for notoriety and specifically because it sold products with a higher profit margin than what it sold before the crisis. It should be noted that this fine concerns the period of the covid pandemic and not the period of the energy crisis.

Following is the announcement.

The Minister of Development & Investment, Adonis Georgiadis imposed on the supermarket chain for scandalous profit the largest fine in the history of the General Secretariat of Commerce & Consumer Protection

An administrative fine of 647,000 euros is imposed, by decision of the Minister of Development & Investment, Mr. Adonis Georgiadis , in a large supermarket chain because in an audit carried out by auditors of the Inter-Service Market Control Unit (DIMEA) it was found that Violation of article 21 (par. 4b) of the Legislative Content Act of 20/3/2020 (Government Gazette A '68 ) ensuring the smooth operation of the market and public administration ".

Greece’s Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis has threatened merchants that the fines for masks price-gouging will be extraordinary high. At the same time, he claimed that had the state paid for free Rapid tests for all, the country would go bankrupt.

Speaking to Skai TV on Saturday, the minister said that there have been reported cases of price-gouging in protective masks, especially the KN95, since the government made them mandatory in supermarkets and public transport means since the Christmas Eve.

Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment announced in the United States that it has withdrawn from plans for the creation of a casino in Greece, slated for the former airport plot at Elliniko in southern Athens.

“MGE has conducted a comprehensive review of its operations and future commitments against the new backdrop created by the Covid-19 global pandemic and concluded that we would not continue to pursue the concession rights for the Athens project,” it said.

“No more infections counting, no lockdown even if they reach 10,000,” Greece’s Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis said on Tuesday, the day coronavirus cases are expected to reach a new record and the government is to announce new measures and restrictions across the country. In cynical statements he denied any government responsibility for the increasing cases blaming only the unvaccinated citizens for the new outbreaks. In his usual populist and racist style he also blamed Greeks in the north for not getting vaccinated because they’re …Balkans.

“The government is not responsible for the intensity of the pandemic, but the citizens who are not vaccinated,” the Minister said among others, in an interview with Parapolitika FM