Inquiry into dodgy bond sales moves on
An inquiry by the Capital Market Commission into sales of structured bonds to social security funds is expected to be finished by next week. The Commission, which oversees market operations, is investigating all 65 brokerages registered to the Athens Stock Exchange. Yesterday was the final deadline for the brokerages to send to the Commission a detailed list of all their transactions since January 1, 2002. The Commission chairman, Alexis Pilavios, told a parliamentary committee on Thursday that findings so far show that several firms have sold such bonds in a way that earned them and their partners huge commissions that resulted in the social security funds’ acquiring the bonds at an inflated price. The government has apparently chosen Andreas Kintis, a professor of econometrics and a former rector of the Athens University of Economics and Business, as the new chairman of the Civil Servants’ Auxiliary Pension Fund (TEADY). Kintis has also served as chairman of the Economic and Social Committee. The fund’s previous head, Agapios Simeoforidis is under investigation over the sale of a structured bond to the fund. Simeoforidis is the son of former New Democracy MP Constanine Simeoforidis, who also served as the party’s administrator until recently.
