"Henry Dunant" Hospital: The backroom consultations between Sallas – Vgenopoulos
With the blessings of Antonis Samaras and the amendment ... of Voridis, has proceeded the plan of the acquirement of the "Henry Dunant" Hospital by Piraeus Bank.The course of the "Henry Dunant" Hospital seems that was fated, since the Piraeus Bank and the "Hygeia" Group come constantly to the fore in recent years.
The masks fell on Wednesday, when the company "HEMITHEA SA", which is allegedly associated with Piraeus Bank Group, appeared in the auction with a check of 115 million Euros, and within minutes the process was over.
The consultations in the background were feverish, for a long time. Andreas Vgenopoulos, Chairman of MIG (which owns "Hygeia" Group), was a regular visitor to the office of Michalis Sallas, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Piraeus Bank Group.
The involvement of MIG in "Henry Dunant" Hospital goes back to 2008, when the hospital received a loan of 96 million Euros from "Marfin Bank". The loan transferred to Piraeus Bank, following the acquisition of Marfin Group by Piraeus Bank. When, last January, Piraeus Bank as the largest creditor of the heavily indebted "Henry Dunant" Hospital took control of the hospital, sought an administrator to take over the management. And, (what a coincidence!), in May, "Hygeia" Group took the management of Dunant. It was preceded, according to an article of 'Kathimerini' newspaper, an agreement between MIG and Piraeus Bank for a convertible bond which will make Piraeus Bank as major shareholder of MIG, in which belongs "Hygeia" Hospital.
The control of Dunant by the strong man of Piraeus Bank, Mr. Sallas, was absolute. The words of the former President of the Greek Red Cross and of Henry Dunant Hospital, Andrea Martinis, are that: "I agreed to resign and seven other members resigned also, just because Mr. Sallas wanted to control the whole situation," told on onmed.gr.
The government's consent was secured in favor of the banking lobby in each phase of the privatization plan. Even when signed for the bleak future for the hospital and approximately 1,000 employees. In terms of the Memorandum of Cooperation signed between the Ministry of Health, then minister Adonis Georgiadis, the administration of the hospital and the Piraeus Bank, which included: reducing labor costs in half (i.e. layoffs, wage cuts and flexible employment relationships), restructuring of personnel and jobs, ensuring debt interest payments, discontinuation of producing debt.
The "scandal", however, has one more act, the alleged impending sale of the "Henry Dunant" Hospital to "Hygeia" Hospital, now free from debt and the excess - possible - staff. Salas and Vgenopoulos pull the strings sometimes from the background and sometimes openly. Either way, banks are always the winner.
Read also:
"Henry Dunant" Hospital: The "scandal" of the decade... with donation of the government
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