Δευτέρα 24 Μαΐου 2010

The odyssey of the English citizen


New article on a big Greek newspaper about ACTUP ΔΡΑΣΕ HELLAS (by Dina Karatziou, Kyriakatiki Eleftherotypia, 23/05/2010)

http://www.enet.gr/?i=news.el.ellada&id=165379 
http://www.enet.gr/?i=news.el.ellada&id=165380
 
English version

Luck shined upon Simon Rawicz, British citizen, who was looking for a job in Greece. In July 2008 he signed, as he says, a contract as an IT and graphics technician with the ngo ACTUP, which works on AIDS.
His luck abandoned him quickly though: “In February 2009, the president of the organization Kostadis Kabourakis asked me and Christina Chorianopoulou, volunteer of ACT-UP, to fabricate receipts in order to cover up gaps in the administration of state funds. Because of my denial to do so, I found they had changed the locks of the office the following day. In March, the ngo stopped paying me what I was due. Furthermore, I was uninsured for the whole period”.
“There wasn’t any documentation to justify the amounts of money with which they were funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They asked us to fabricate receipts” explains Christina Chorianopoulou and states that she was present at the signing of the British citizen’s contract.

The validity of the signature

The following period, Rawicz appeals to the Labour Center of Athens, and a tribunal meeting is scheduled [at the Employment Office]: “Then K. Kabourakis sued me denying his signature on my contract. Consequently I sued the members of board of the ngo for the false accusations and lawsuit, attaching the report of the graphologist Magda Kabouri (who is at the disposal of the newspaper) according to which there isn’t a single doubt on the originality of his signature.
“I also filed a lawsuit claiming what I was owed and compensation for the moral damage I suffered. The preliminary examination on the lawsuits began recently, while the trial for my lawsuit was postponed because the adverse parties didn’t appear in court”.
During the first months of his stay in our country the British citizen becomes acquainted with Kallia Chatzigianni, historian, Head of the General State Archives in Euboea and vice-president of the Society of Greek Archivists, who convinces him to claim and fight for his rights. Together they begin to investigate the financial administration of ACT-UP, requesting information from institutions and organizations from which the ngo had received funding.
She will tell us: “It was a common secret that the heads of ACT-UP, with the tolerance and cover-up of public institutions, were cashing in the international reputation of ACT-UP and also the reputation of the Greek ACT-UP in the beginning of the 90s”.
The main sources of funding of the organization are Hellenic Aid (YDAS – Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and the Greek Centre for Disease Control (KEELPNO – Ministry of Health).
At the same time, the president and the financial director of the ngo, doctor Chryssoula Botsi, are directors of two KEELPNO departments (from which they have received funding). The first is head of the Department for Study and Prevention of Trafficking and the second is head of the HIV/AIDS Department. Those two departments form the National Focal Point for European projects on public health of the European Committee. It is also remarkable that K. Kabourakis during public speeches has been self-determined as a doctor. At KEELPNO however he was hired as administrative staff, presenting a high-school diploma.
In April 2009 Rawicz addresses KEELPNO and YDAS in writing. S. Rawicz and Kallia Chatzigianni both explain that in order to acquire what they requested from KEELPNO they had to put in tremendous efforts. “It took the repeated (for 6 months) written and telephone interventions of the Greek Ombudsman towards the Administration of KEELPNO, countless phone calls to the President’s office, the Legal Department and the Director of KEELPNO, plus four meetings with the ones in charge, the following days of which they forgot what they had promised”.


They also point out that the documents they finally received didn’t include the essential ones: contracts, budgets, reports and receipts for projects and actions that ACT-UP received funding for. From 2005 until 2007, the ngo received 87.800 euro.


Conflict of interests
The two citizens bring about the issue of ethics and conflict of interest and they aren’t they only ones. The coordinator of the KEELPNO Committee of Social Dialogue on AIDS, Gr. Vallianatos, points out: “I want ACT-UP to regain its important role in the fight against AIDS. This masquerade must end”.
In regard to YDAS, a few days after the letter of Rawizc, they called in ACT-UP with an extra judicial order, as the receipts the ngo had submitted were considered insufficient. A second extra judicial order followed shortly. Again though the financial data was insufficient. During the communication of Eleftherotypia with YDAS it was mentioned “the legal act for the receipts of the ngo which were not accepted is in the process of authorized signing”. From YDAS, ACT-UP was entitled to funding of 320.310 euro, of which they did receive the amount of 180.855 euro.
http://www.enet.gr/?i=news.el.ellada&id=165379
 

The statement of Th. Papadimitriou (Director of KEELPNO)

“We are all being judged, and above all the individuals who tarnish the most historical and powerful ngo in the field of AIDS. The former board of directors funded, as it did for other ngos, ACT-UP, based upon its international prestige and its action in Greece until that time.
After the recent accusations, KEELPNO is checking the funding towards ACT-UP so as to determine if the total budget submitted officially and signed by its president is true (thorough investigation of receipts and cross-reference of financial data). 
I follow the events in this new ACT-UP with despair. Transparency is the fundamental necessity for the credibility of the volunteer movement. In my opinion, although there isn’t a formal problem with KEELPNO employing any person who is in the administration of an ngo collaborating with KEELPNO in a common field, there is ethical conflict when a member of an ngo board of directors pursues to be employed as governmental staff".

http://www.enet.gr/?i=news.el.ellada&id=165380

Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:

Δημοσίευση σχολίου