Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis’ $60,000 speeches were not enough to quench his greed for money, his participation in the mysterious 1101 platform shows that his money-grabbing fiesta is all but over. The platform set up by Varoufakis and another 1100 is a site without content that charges users who are “interested in impartial and objective journalism” to pay 5 euros per person for use. Its creators point to a platform where users can converse between themselves, network and act on “substantial matters”. And all this will come at a price, because as the producers of the site say – “Journalism is expensive.”

Here is the electronic correspondence where confirmation is given of the users bank account

Members using 1101 are invited to contribute financially to cover the site’s operational costs. New contributors were informed last week via e-mail that it is imperative that they pay off their subscription fees as quickly as possible. Five euros per month using a bank transfer at their bank of choice gets them membership to the site. The bank order can be made through e-banking or by visiting a branch. Money is then deposited to a natural person, and not a company account as is usually the case in such situations without the subscriber being given further info.

“We kindly request that you not neglect the standing order at the bank. You can do this either at a bank counter, or, if you have Internet access, you can simply make a transfer to our account.”

Response

Proto Thema filled in the relevant application form that is posted on “The Press Project” site. After a few hours, we received an e-mail welcoming us to the site. “We are very happy that you decided to become a member of 1101,” said the blurb. “We are determined, using your subscription, to do all we can to change the media in Greece.”

This is followed by a reminder for us to pay our dues should we wish to join 1101 that is championed by none other than Greece’s former finance minister. There is also an explanation: “We are not a large organization and we need your help in our efforts.”

Due to the fact that there is no way to control subscribers as yet so that their accounts can be activated, members are asked to pay their 5-euro/month (60-euro/year) subscription fees not to a company but to a person named Konstantinos Papadopoulos, whose name appears as the beneficiary of a bank account at the Bank of Piraeus (the bank we chose to complete our transaction).

We are told that Konstantinos Papadopoulos is actually Kostas Efimeros – one of the creators of 1101 and owner of bitsandbytes that operates the portal – when we question the administrators regarding who the person we were asked to pay our fees to actually is. We are told by a woman named Thea Manoura that Kostas Efimeros has two registered surnames. Our second question concerns our receipt of payment, and we are told that our 5-euro money order will appear on our analytic account books each month and “if needed” we will get paid a total receipt. “Usually, an analytical account is enough, but if you want us to give you a total receipt for the amount of your accounts, then we will give you one after you give us the address where you would like us to mail it,” she says.

Administrators of the 1101 site tell us taht there are 1,000 registered subscribers so far who have placed a bank order into the account of Konstantinos Papadopoulos (aka Konstas Efimeros). This means that 5,000 euros have already been received. The goal is for the 1,000 subscribers of 1101 to soon become 50,000 so that the account of the bitsandbytes owner can be fluffed up with 250,000 euros per month!