Court of Audit blocks 'Elliniko' sale on procedural grounds

A Court of Audit ruling on Wednesday blocked the sale of 100 percent of Elliniko SA, the site of the former Athens airport, by the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) on the grounds that rules of transparency, equal treatment and competition had been violated during the tender process. The ruling was issued after the court inspected the draft of the sale contract and the procedure to select the highest bidder in the sale for Elliniko.

Among the problems cited by the court was that the wording of a tender for the sale restricted participation to financial bodies have a legal personality or their unions and consortiums. In this way, the court said, a series of financial agents were barred from participating, including individual persons whether alone or in unions or consortiums with others. According to the court, there were no special reasons to justify such an exclusion.

It also objected to changes to the terms of the tender made in the second phase of the process, so that the submission of new offers was essentially impossible by potential investors that had not been pre-selected. In addition, such late changes in the terms of a contract put up for tender are forbidden by both Greek and European law unless there is a specific provision referring to the possibility of an amendment.