Casino fumes as red tape holds up study
Club Hotel Casino Loutraki (CHCL), the country’s largest gaming house, has launched legal action against the government, accusing two ministries of mishandling 95,000 euros it provided for a study related to nearby archaeological sites. CHCL said in a statement that, in July 2008, the Culture Ministry agreed that the casino could fund three studies on the development of two archaeological sites and an archaeological museum but since then nothing has been done. ‘We call on the Culture Ministry to explain this unjustifiable delay and the indifference it has shown toward implementing its contractual obligations, resulting in the funds going to the [Finance Ministry’s] general accounting office,’ it said. Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos told Parliament last month that the ministry had asked the general accounting office to return the money earlier this year but it had been repeatedly turned down for no apparent reason.
