Charges in bond affair mulled
The results of the preliminary investigation into the sale of an overpriced Greek government bond to four pension funds were handed to a chief prosecutor yesterday and up to 35 people are expected to be charged in the affair by the end of the week. Appeals prosecutor Giorgos Koliocostas will study the report before deciding who should face criminal prosecution based on the evidence given by some 60 witnesses over the course of almost three months. Between 30 and 35 people are due to be charged with a range of offenses, including forming a criminal gang, money laundering, defrauding the state, tax evasion and protecting a criminal. Prosecutors Antonis Liogas and Grigoris Peponis investigated how the 280-million-euro bond, issued by Greece to raise money for military spending, ended up being traded by various banks, hedge funds and stock brokerages at discounted rates before being sold to four pension funds at face value. Members of the funds’ boards as well as employees of the financial institutions that traded the note are expected to be among those charged. A council of appeal court judges is due to meet tomorrow to give the go-ahead for charges to be issued and an investigating magistrate to be appointed to the case. PASOK kept up the political pressure over the affair on the government yesterday by asking for an investigative committee to be formed in Parliament to look into the bond purchase.
