Athens News Agency: News in English (AM), 99-01-03

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr>

NEWS IN ENGLISH

Athens, Greece, 03/01/1999 (ANA)

MAIN HEADLINES

• Olympic Airways employee arrested on drug smuggling charges
• Holiday road accidents
• Early winter sales
• New taxi fares
• Bond tax scrapped for foreign investors
• 15-yr bond auction
• Weather
• Foreign exchange

NEWS IN DETAIL

An employee of national carrier Olympic Airways has been arrested for using her position to get her brother through airport control without his luggage being searched for the drugs he was carrying.

Police arrested Zoe Lambropoulos, 31, and her brother Ioannis Lambropoulos, 37, after they found 750 grams of cocaine and 48 grams of cannabis on the man.

Police had been tipped off to Ioannis Lambropoulos's plans to travel to Brussels and return with cocaine, which he allegedly planned to sell on the Greek market.

When he returned to Greece on December 31, drug squad police were waiting for him and discovered the narcotics in his bags.

Also waiting for him, however, was his sister, who attempted to use her position as an employee of Olympic Airways to spirit her brother through customs controls without having his bags searched.

Police also found in Lambropoulos's possession a detailed record of the amounts of cocaine he had sold to customers over a period of two years and his payments for his services.

Holiday road accidents

Thirteen people were killed and 215 injured in 150 car accidents reported by police from New Year's eve until Sunday noon. Traffic police went on alert as of Sunday noon to facilitate drivers returning to the urban centres from the holidays.

Early winter sales

Winter sales in shops and department stores in Athens will begin on January 7 and will last seven weeks, until the end of February, according to an announcement by the Commercial Association, in a bid to "revive the market" which showed a decline in December.

Sales begin in Piraeus on Monday.

Many retailers have already slashed their prices by up to 40 percent.

New taxi fares

The minimum taxi fare has risen to 500 drachmas as of January 1, effective throughout the country. The extra 150-drachma per fare Christmas and New Year holiday bonus for cab drivers will continue until January 7.

Bond tax scrapped for foreign investors

The government has scrapped a tax on interest from state bonds for investors who are permanent residents abroad in a move aligning the market with remaining European Union countries.

The measure, which the finance ministry submitted to parliament on Thursday, went into effect as from January 1. It also scraps tax on bonds issued before 1999 but payable in that year under the old regime.

The tax payable on bond interest remains the same for domestic investors, also remaining unchanged on treasury bills for all categories of buyers.

Until now, Greece was the only country in the 15-nation EU that taxed foreign investors on bond interest.

Investors generally were able to retrieve the tax they paid under laws to scotch double taxation, but the process upped their operational costs, deterring purchases.

15-yr bond auction

The finance ministry on Tuesday is to auction 280 billion drachmas worth of 15-year fixed income bonds in electronic form at an annualised 6.50 percent.

The issue and settlement date is January 11, and no commission will be given to banks in the competitive price auction through primary dealers.

Non-competitive bids will also be accepted by primary and non-primary dealers for up to 20 percent of the securities being auctioned.

Permanent residents abroad who buy into the paper will not be required to pay tax on interest in line with a new law effective on January 1, 1999.

WEATHER

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

(L.G.)

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