Eight years after the revelation of the Folli Follie scandal broke and three years after the final ratification of the restructuring agreement, the disgraced company’s bondholders, the majority of whom are foreign investors, remain without any compensation, and are about to sue Greece.
To date, the prospect of recovering part of their money seems distant as it stumbles over complex bureaucratic and legal procedures, just as Greece is struggling to build its international reputation as an attractive investment destination.
The continuous delays and complex legal entanglements have exhausted the patience of a group of creditors of the then-listed company that had produced fake financial figures.
As Patrick Rueg, who actively coordinates the so-called Swiss bond bloc, explained to Kathimerini, the group is now preparing to file an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights, which will be directed against the Greek state. The action will be based specifically on Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which allows for recourse to supranational remedies when national procedures are excessively delayed or prove to be ineffective in practice.
The bondholders’ main demand is to “unfreeze” Folli Follie’s assets, which include some of the group’s most emblematic properties, such as the headquarters in Agios Stefanos. Their total value, a few years ago, was estimated at around €200 million.
However, these properties were seized by the Anti-Money Laundering Authority in 2018, after they were considered the product of illegal activity. In order for their unfreezing to proceed, the criminal part of the case must first be completed, that is, the court must rule on the criminal responsibilities of the former owners, Dimitris and Tzortzis Koutsolioutsos, who were sentenced to 10-17 years in prison in the first instance. The appeal trial finally started a few months ago in Athens, but the final decision is not expected for a year or two.