Katrougalos attacks money-saving project Syzefxis
Alternate Minister for Administrative Reform Giorgos Katrougalos expressed some serious allegations against the Syzefxis projects aimed at connecting Greek state entities’ networks and saving the state millions of euros.
Addressing an event by the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) on Wednesday, Katrougalos said “bags of money were needlessly wasted” on the “super-luxurious” projects. “We kept pouring money into the Danaides’ barrel,” said Katrougalos, claiming that “this was not to serve public but personal interests.”
These statements surprised his audience, as the Syzefxis network, conceived in 2003, was aimed at offering communication options between state entities that spend about 300-350 million euros per year on telephone bills. The implementation of Syzefxis II, which had been in the tender process up until the January election, with a budget of 500 million euros, would have reportedly slashed the state’s annual phone costs by some 50 percent.
Now the word on the street is that since the government does not have time to implement the project in the context of the EU funding program that expires in December, it is seeking to minimize its own responsibility for its exclusion from the program.
