Aliki Valavani, mother of former alternate finance minister Nadia Valavani, told Proto Thema that she withdrew 200,000 euros from the bank prior to the imposition of capital controls. The 85-year-old woman said that she was afraid that she would lose her life’s savings and took the money home to “keep it safe”. In an exclusive with Proto Thema she described her fears.
Nadia Valavani, the minister who resigned on Monday, July 13, is fuming over the reportage concerning her mother’s transaction. She states that she resigned prior to the newspaper’s investigation though her resignation was publicized on Wednesday.
The former minister accused the media of attacking her for something that she is not to blame. “I am once again calling for Greek justice to intervene so that this mud-slinging campaign to taint my name can stop. Let light be shed so that the situation can be clarified and end the defamation and cannibalism against me,” she writes in a letter to Proto Thema.
In another excerpt, she writes:
“I am forced to publicly speak out on matters that nobody should ever talk about: The finances of a third person, such as my mother. I am forced due to the last few days of smearing, that turned into a tsunami over the weekend. The crescendo came after a five-page (!) dedication in Proto Thema focused on myself and my family. The devious title over a giant photograph doctored to look as though I was studying my assets for 2012, says ‘I lifted the 200,000 euros,’ and in smaller print underneath – ‘Valavani’s mother confesses whereas the daughter, a minister, puts a freeze on safety deposit boxes.’
I think it is unfortunate that I am forced to categorically state what everybody knows about my mother, including the governors of a few bank branches in Heraklion: My mother has always managed her own finances and I never had any whatsoever involvement in this. I have not participated and do not participate in any bank transfers. I never had any communication regarding a banker concerning these. We are not – my sister and I – co-signers in any of her bank accounts.
The publication focuses on one of three questions that L. Avgenaki made in Parliament towards the Prime Minister: It begins by ‘photographing’ me and stating that on Thursday, June 25, two days after the return of the Prime Minister from Brussels to announce a deadlock in negotiations and four days prior to capital controls, i was “forced” to call the manager of the Ethniki Bank branch at Herakleio to put an end to my term deposit and for the bank to send the money to a relative’s house at Heraklion. In the third question, my mother is depicted as the ‘relative’ who received 200,000 euros. A reference is made to the manager being forced after my call.
The large dedication at PT does not include any call made to the manager. Nonetheless, after a so-called investigation by the newspaper various details are added…The publication refers to the mother of the minister showing her dissatisfaction when she was told that they did not have the money to give her and one to to days would be needed to gather this, causing her to complain and stressing that she would tell her daughter, causing the bank clerks to feel terrified (!!) so that they transfered the money to her house themselves (!) just two days prior to the imposition of capital controls. The publication links my mother’s action with my resignation from government even though she tried to distance me by stating that our relations have ‘frozen.’
The truth is: My mother has broken her term deposit valued at 100,000 euros on Thursday but on the previous Thursday, June 18. At that time we were composing a 46-page text of proposals that creditors had described as a ‘good basis for discussion’ at a time when there were no thoughts concerning capital controls. On the previous day, Wednesday, June 17, my mother’s accountant informed the bank manager that his client wanted 50,000 to 100,000 euros the next day. The manager said that the next day there would be credit so they could go any timethey wanted. On Thursday, June 18, my mother went to the bank with her accountant and they received the money they required within 10-15 minutes without any problems – in the presence of her accountant, who accompanied her back to her house. There was no mention of ‘her daughter, the minnister’.
I was not aware of any of the aforementioned transactions as our communication is sparse, mainly due to my own workload. This does not mean that I didn’t have or still have exceptional relations with my mother. When i handed in my resignation on Monday morning, July 13, 24 hours prior to Avgenakis first question, I had no idea concerning this.
I feel obliged to complain and ask for the immediate removal of the captioned photograph of my mother and myself dining that was published online titled “N.V. with her mother when they weren’t… on speaking terms”. The photo is supposedly from an event in Herakleion that took place 20 days ago. The only problem is that I am wearing turquoise and I have not stopped wearing black clothing since my partner died last November. I haven’t been on Crete since August 15 last year. Whereas the photo where my husband has been ‘cut off’, it is from the event of the Agia Galini Cultural Association on August 15, 2012.
After accusing Proto Thema of distorting the news and smearing her good name she states that her deposits are in Greece, “blocked” by banks just like everybody else’s money. “I state, once again, that I resigned for political reasons,” she says. Valavani believes that some of the mud in mud-slinging does stick nomatter what anybody says and points to the reason for the reportage is the stand of some ministers who are opposed to the third bailout package for Greece.
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