COSCO slams shipping ministry's ‘obvious attempt’ to change deal with OLP
Chinese shipping giant COSCO, who recently signed a deal with Greece’s privatization agency (HRADF) for the sale of a majority stake in Piraeus Port (OLP), accused the shipping ministry on Wednesday of attempting to pass through parliament an altered agreement from the one signed with the company, in a letter sent to the parliament’s trade committee.
Parliament is debating a draft bill on the deal through a fast-track procedure that will allow it to be approved ahead of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ visit to China this weekend.
“With the submission of the draft bill ratifying the new concession agreement between the Greek government and OLP, we were confronted with a very unpleasant surprise, as the content of the specific bill constitutes a complete reversal of what our company COSCO HK agreed with HRADF, as part of the acquisition of a majority stake in OLP,” the General Manager of COSCO Hellas, Angelos Karakostas, said in his letter to HRADF and the parliamentary committee.
Karakostas said the text of the draft law is a “completely different text” than the ratifying bill signed with HRADF, which is an “integral part” of the deal with the agency. He also said the text submitted is also “exact opposite” from “both the main conditions of the deal and the given facts” on which COSCO’s bid was made.
“The modifications of the agreed draft law are an obvious attempt of the shipping ministry to completely substitute OLP’s administration, to render inactive almost all of the provisions of the concession deal and amend by law the achieved agreement,” the letter continues.
Karakostas then requests that the ministry restores the original text in a way that it reflects “fully and completely” what was agreed between Greece and the company.
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