Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-07-21

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] International insurance fraud ring uncovered

[02] Athens Stock Exchange opening: Marginal decline

[03] Athens Newspaper Headlines

[01] International insurance fraud ring uncovered

An unknown number of Italians and another ten Greeks were also involved in the racket ,collecting over 4 million euros from Italian companies as insurance compensations through fictitious beneficiaries and channeling them to non-existent commercial transactions. The defrauded amounts were then transferred through Italian and Greek banks to accounts belonging to Greek nationals.

After being collected by the Greeks, a large part of the money was channeled to an unknown destination, most probably to the Italian members of the ring. The uncovery of the fraud put a halt on similar dealings of roughly 9 million euros that were in the pipeworks..

The Greek nationals maintained that the money was used by the Italians for investments in country houses mainly on the Dodecanese islands but considering that such investments were never made the amounts sent were returned to their initial beneficiaries.

In one of the cases, a Cypriot company served as an intermediary before the money reached a Greek company and subsequently forwarded to the Greek members of the ring. In all the cases, complex bank transactions were conducted before the money reached the Greek ring members.

The case is already before a prosecutor, while the Special Audit Service is continuing the investigation on the activities of the Greek nationals and companies involved.

[02] Athens Stock Exchange opening: Marginal decline

Equity prices were declining at the opening of trade on Tuesday on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE), with the basic share price index down 0.03 percent, standing at 2,274.75 points at 10:45 a.m., and turnover at 11.2 million euros.

Individual sector indices were moving mostly downward, with the biggest losses in Insurance, down 7.74 percent; Oil & Gas, down 1.52 percent; and Telecoms, down 1.44 percent.

The biggest gains were in Chemicals, up 1.00 percent; Financial Services, up 0.75 percent; and Technology, up 0.74 percent.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavily traded stocks was down 0.30 percent, the FTSE/ASE MID 40 index was up 0.26 percent, and the FTSE/ASE-80 small cap index was up 0.48 percent. Of the stocks moved, 60 were up, 35 were down, and 21 were unchanged.

[03] Athens Newspaper Headlines

Speculation of early general elections in light of the Presidential election in parliament in March -- given that if parliament fails to elect a President, which requires a reinforced majority vote under the Constitution, the House must be dissolved and general elections called for a new parliament to emerge, which will have the ability to elect a President with a simple majority vote -- Turkish provocations in the Aegean and the new flu pandemic were the main front-page items in Athens' dailies on Tuesday.

ADESMEFTOS TYPOS: "Fire from inside the party, too, against (main opposition PASOK leader George) Papandreou (over his stated intention to force early general elections, making use of the Presidential election in March) - Dimitris Tsatsos (respected Constitutional expert) charges that the institution of President is being turned into a 'tool' for serving political expediencies".

APOGEVMATINI: "Greece's borders comprise European borders - End to illegal migration, by virtue of the European Pact for Migration and Asylum".

AVGHI: "October restructure - SYRIZA (SYN-led Coalition of the Radical Left parliamentary alliance): Rendezvous at the organisational convention".

AVRIANI: "President Papoulias poised to resign if the undermining of the institution of President of the Republic continues".

ELEFTHERI ORA: "If Ankara does not implement the illegal migrant readmission protocol, EU membership is out of the question".

ELEFTHEROTYPIA: "Karamanlis, wishing to avoid early general elections in March, seeks life raft in the President".

ESTIA: "Prospect of early general elections diminishing - Pressure on Papandreou increasing".

ETHNOS: "US pressure for dialogue with Ankara 'on all issues' - Come to understanding over the Aegean, and quickly".

KATHIMERINI: "Industry reveals the recession - 30.7 percent slump in industrial turnover in the month of May".

LOGOS: "Constitutional expert Tsatsos' statement gave rise to new clash between government and main opposition PASOK".

RIZOSPASTIS: "Attempt to misorient the people through the election-mongering".

TA NEA: "Terror scenarios for 4,400 patients in Intensive Care Units - What the specialists fear regarding the new flu".

TO VIMA: "Will the schools open in September? - Europe-wide alert over the new flu A/H1N1".

VRADYNI: "With their backs against the wall - Group fire against PASOK over early elections".

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