Doling out cash to friends and private TV network owners (again)

A few days ago on the government transparency portal Diavgeia, a decision taken by the board of the public broadcaster NERIT was published regarding a provisional tender for the procurement of transmitters for the relay of digital terrestrial television broadcasts. This decision, which was taken just one week before the (problematic) transition of the Peloponnese to the digital age, concerns an outlay of 200,000 euros plus VAT. Additionally, the board decided on a tender for the transmission of the signal of digital packets to a satellite (in order for the signal to be received by the broadcast centers)  with a budget of another 200,000 euros plus VAT. And yet according to the law, that is illegal.

Let us see why. In 2010 the regulations regarding public procurement was revised, setting out new limits for provisional tenders of the state. According to the encyclical 3186 published on the 7th of September 2012, (click here – pdf in Greek), for public contracts up to 60,000 euros, provisional tenders may be issued (ie with an invitation issued for bids) while direct awarding of contracts the limit is even lower at 20,000 euros. For contracts over 60,000 and up to 233,000 public bodies must issue a national tender which must be published in two Greek newspapers, while for even larger sums the tender must be international and be published in the Gazette of the European Union.

And yet NERIT, which supposedly was created to put an end to the public spending ‘party’ at ERT, is now proceeding with two tenders worth over half a million euros with non-transparent procedures, amassing bids from ‘friends’.

The excuse provided by the government – which continues to spread money right and… far-right with NERIT and its predecessor DT (we recall here the money given to Mr Bobolas for services never used) – is that there is limited time because of the country’s obligation to transition to a digital signal. And yet, despite the assurances regarding NERIT’s preparedness, the decision for the procurement of the transmitters comes only a week before the ‘switch off’ of the Peloponnese which led to yet another fiasco given that, for one the public was not given suitable notification, and secondly many areas were left with no signal, driving supporters of the national football team to desperation.

In other words it is obvious that there is no possibility whatsoever for the transmitters to be ready for the transition. Indeed, it is for that reason that until the transmitters are procured and the satellite links established, NERIT is forced to use DIGEA, the company controlled by the owners of the major private broadcasters. It is worth noting that yet again the government is making a mockery of public institutions by not publishing the administrative decision which concerns the cost of renting DIGEA’s infrastructure despite the fact that it evidently uses it. Our sources talk of huge sums which reach 100,000 euros per nationally broadcast SD channel per month, an estimation which appears to be confirmed by the fact that in the Peloponnese one of two packets is broadcast (NERIT, NERIT sports and NERIT HD), leaving out the parliamentary channel, RIK, DW and BBC World, “for reasons of economy,” as our source told us. In simple mathematics, NERIT will, within the year, pay the owners of the private TV networks at least as much as it will require to purchase the transmitters.

NERIT’s excuse regarding tight timeframes appears even more ridiculous when we read in Typologies (link in Greek) that a joint ministerial decision is expected to delay the ‘switch off’ of the analogue signal in Attica following the problems in the Peloponnese (and therefore after the end of the World Cup). I.e. it is obvious that the government can change the timing of the deadlines and could see to it that national and international tenders are conducted properly which would result in less of the Greek taxpayer’s money being spent.

Let us examine the legal side of the case. NERIT maintains that it is a public enterprise but in the form of a legal entity governed by private law and therefore is not required to adhere to the internal regulations for public spending. It maintains, in other words, that it has the right to spend hundreds of millions provided by th public without the restrictions established by Greece and the EU for public spending.

But that argument, aside from deeply problematic, is also totally contradictory given that NERIT itself as well as the Council of State (the supreme administrative court) during the case of the mass layoffs of ERT noted that while the new organisation is indeed a legal entity governed by private law, it ‘corresponds to the state’. Then, of course NERIT was seeking to avoid the obligation to rehire the ERT workers that had been laid off in the event that the Council ruled the layoffs illegal.

In other words NERIT is public enough and at the same time very private depending on its interests. Interests which in any case have been proven not to be aligned with the interests of the Greek people.

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