Former prime minister Costas Simitis lost in 2001 a timely opportunity to tackle the Greek Debt Crisis in its infancy, using Goldman Sachs cheap tricks, allowing the Debt Crisis to explode during the reign of New Democracy prime minister and expert PS3 player Costas Karamanlis
By The ECB Watch
In 2001 the Greece ministry of
finance hired Goldman Sachs to enhance its books using derivatives. This became
known in 2003. Two noticeable events occurred in 2010.
First, the EU mandates audits
into Greece’s national accounts, uncovering huge irregularities, including
those related to the 2001 deal. This received financial media coverage (Wall
Street Journal…). It was suspected, then, that, in addition, Goldman Sachs shorted Greek debt which, on the face of it, is
a market
abuse. The final audit, however, came at a time when the media coverage had
dissipated: we will see that it's unfortunate.
Second, Goldman Sachs’
wrongdoing in the subprime crisis was made official by the SEC and
congressional investigations. The EU authorities and the UK (Gordon Brown)
declared that they would carry out due diligence checks on this issue, in
cooperation with the US.
What were the consequences?
The FSA fined Goldman Sachs an insignificant penalty for a technical violation in relation to Fabrice Tourre’s ongoing investigation by the SEC. Smoke and mirrors?
In response to the allegedly fraudulent Greek deal, two
parliamentary hearings took place, in the UK and at the EU level, in the 2010.
They were chaired by Michael Fallon, and by Sharon Bowles,
respectively, and Goldman Sachs, represented by E.
Gerald Corrigan (G30), who is presumed by some to be the next Chairman of Goldman
Sachs, testified. Very few (hard) questions were asked. No independent evidence
was produced. Goldman Sachs’ claims were not challenged. There were no hard
claims to challenge, anyway, because Corrigan’s answers were, let’s face it,
vague. Misleading? He repeatedly emphasized that Goldman and Greece were not
alone. Well, it turns out they were alone, virtually, in the Euro zone.
Around the same period, release of the details of the deal
requested by Bloomberg were denied by Jean-Claude Trichet (G30).
FT-Alphaville published an article in May, Eurostat isn't happy with Greece and its Goldman Swaps.
Unfortunately, the media did not follow through. It’s a shame, because only the final audit, in November 2010, gives a reliable account of
the deal, and it reveals information that had gone under the radar: there was
an 80% increase in the amount of the deal in 2005 (Goldman Sachs was still
managing it), and Greece withheld data from EU authorities about it. At that
time, Mario Draghi (G30) was still working for Goldman Sachs in London and a
member of the firm-wide risk management committee (alongside, it seems,
Corrigan).
It’s hard to dispute that the Greek/Goldman deal should
have come under the scrutiny of a financial authority or a prosecutor, but a
judicial inquiry was never launched in the EU. There was mention of a Federal reserve investigation in February 2010, but it
has gone silent. It’s not crazy to assume there was a cover up (willful, as
opposed to gross, negligence), at a very high level. A seemingly good start for
approaching this issue is:
What authorities failed to comply with their obligation or
mandate?
And who were in charge of them at the time ?
In practice, it’s complicated, because there are
overlapping jurisdictions : the FSA (Goldman Sachs apparently operated from its
London office), EU market authorities, Greece’s Central Bank (BoG) and
Greece’s Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA). Anyone, to suggest a lead?
On the
Greek side, the following individuals are reported as having some connection to
the problem:
- Greek Prime
Minister Costas Simitis
- Lucas
Papademos, in charge of the BoG from 1994 until 2002, and now prime
minister of Greece
- Christoforos
Sardelis, head of PDMA
- Petros Christodoulou, DG of PDMA and a Goldman Sachs alumni
- The Greek
tragedy of 2001,
New Strait Times
- Goldman and Greece: just fooling around,
Hillsdale-Econ
- Goldman swap shows Greece was Europe's sub prime nation,
Nick Dunbar
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