Greece's political leaders steered clear of stock exchange, report shows
The majority of Greece's political leaders steered clear of the Athens bourse or invested relatively minor sums, according to a report released on Tuesday based on an inspection of past statements of earnings and assets submitted by MPs from 1989-2001. President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias and former PASOK MP for Ioannina is shown to have earned a total of 189,089 drachmas through the sale of shares acquired before 1989. Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, main opposition PASOK leader George Papandreou and Communist Party of Greece (KKE) General Secretary Aleka Papariga have neither invested nor gained money through stock exchange transactions. Coalition of the Left, Movements and Ecology leader Alekos Alavanos is a net loser, having invested 37.7 million drachmas in order to purchase shares from 1998-2001, during which time he gained 4.6 million drachmas through sales of stock, while his total shares in December 2002 were evaluated at 11.3 million drachmas, putting him some 21.7 million drachmas in the red. The statements submitted by former premier Costas Simitis, by contrast, report stock purchases of 74,163 drachmas by his wife Daphne in 1999 that were valued at 1,185,703 drachmas in December 2002. Former premier Constantine Mitsotakis invested a total of 3.2 million drachmas for the purchase of shares in 1999 and received four million drachmas from the sale of shares in 2001. No stock exchange transactions were reported in statements by Parliament President Anna Psarouda-Benaki, former premier Tzannis Tzannetakis and former Coalition party leader Nikos Constantopoulos. Former Parliament president Apostolos Kaklamanis did not carry out any stock exchange transactions during the period under investigation but owned shares bought before 1989 that were valued at 2.8 million drachmas in December 2002. Prior to the transition to the new European currency, the value of drachmas was fixed at 340.75 to one euro.
