A whiff of scandal at OPAP
It is becoming increasingly clear that many state-owned companies are hubs of corruption and entangled interests. Wasted funds, under-the-table dealings and mismanagement have turned many of them into black holes that suck up taxpayers? money.
The government is making some attempts to impose order and transparency on these organizations, but there are clearly cases where it simply does not dare to tread. The chief example among these is state betting agency OPAP, where the management?s refusal to publish its contract for the Lotto game, which was amended in a shady manner and without the government?s knowledge, is beginning to smell very fishy.
OPAP has always handled a great deal of money and distributed it in various directions, and it is obvious that Prime Minister George Papandreou?s concept of transparent governance has not touched it at all. The greatest blame for this however does not lie with management as much as it does with the ministers under whose jurisdiction these companies fall.
