PASOK set to unveil audit explaining dire state of party finances
PASOK will make an attempt to break from its past on Thursday by presenting an audit of its dire finances but at the same time is to return to the building that formed its original headquarters due to an inability to pay rent at its current plusher offices.
The audit, carried out by a cluster of accounting firms, will be presented at Thursday’s meeting of PASOK’s political council and should give party members an idea of why the Socialists are in such a poor financial situation. The audit covers the period 2003 to 2011, when the party reportedly borrowed 116.5 million euros. PASOK’s debt currently stands at 114 million euros.
Party leader Evangelos Venizelos held talks with his predecessor George Papandreou last week to discuss the audit. Papandreou led the party from 2004 until last year. The two men reportedly argued during the meeting and Papandreou suggested in a statement that there is an attempt to make him a scapegoat.
As a result of PASOK’s debts, the party is set to leave the offices on Ippocratous Street in central Athens, where it moved to in 2008, to return to its original headquarters on Harilaou Trikoupi Street, also in central Athens.
The Socialists have reportedly been unable to pay the 35,000-euro monthly rent at Ippocratous for the past few months. The rent at the Harilaou Trikoupi offices is reportedly 5,000 euros a month. PASOK continued renting the premises, even after it moved out five years ago.
