Bank of Greece (BoG) Gov. Yannis Stournaras on Sunday flatly denied a same-day front-page article claiming he failed to list the size of a large pool at his vacation home in a previous statement of means, an omission that would entail a criminal offense.
The article was the banner headline in the pro-government weekly “Documento”, entitled “The scandalous case of Yannis Stournaras”.
Stournaras’ position as BoG governor and as a former minister of finance, among others, means he must file, under penalty of law, obligatory and accurate annual statements of means and assets. The press claim cites the years 2012 and 2013, prior to his assumption of the BoG’s helm.
“This is another link in a chain of similar shamefulness …” a written statement issued by Stournaras stated, while reminding of another “…conviction, accompanied by a suspended sentence, for the publisher of this newspaper over another libel (case) against my wife.”
Moreover, Greece’s central banker linked what he claimed was a “continuous and personal” attack by the specific weekly against him and his family to BoG measures to ensure transparency and corporate governance “for a specific non-systemic bank in September 2016”.
Although he did not mention names, Stournaras was clearly referring to Attica Bank, which was involved in a high-pitched political controversy over the past two years by granting loans to a construction contractor (Christos Kalogritsas) in a questionable manner. In one instance, the borrower offered up remote pasture land “leased” from another owner on the isle of Ithaca as collateral in order to secure millions of euros in loans. Kalogritsas and his associates then tried to purchase one of four national broadcast licenses in a closed ministry auction late last year, a process that collapsed when struck down by a high court.
Kalogritsas was also the chief financial backer of the “Documento” weekly when it first came out last year, before subsequently leaving in the wake of extremely negative press and political opposition scrutiny over his Attica Bank loans and failure to cover a deposit on one of the four television licenses he won in the ill-fated auction.
