Schaeuble says "no" to throwing money at euro crisis - Yahoo Finance Schaeuble says "no" to throwing money at euro crisis - Yahoo Finance

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Schaeuble says "no" to throwing money at euro crisis - Yahoo Finance

Schaeuble says "no" to throwing money at euro crisis - Yahoo Finance

BERLIN (Reuters) - Throwing more money at the eurozone debt crisis will not solve the problem because the troubles have to be resolved at the cause, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Sunday.

Schaeuble also said in an interview with German TV network ZDF that Greece has not done enough to fulfill promises it made in exchange for bailout funds. Schaeuble also criticized the recent interventions by U.S. President Barack Obama.

"We have to fight the causes," Schaeuble said. "Anyone who believes that money alone or bailouts or any other solutions, or monetary policy at the ECB -- that will never resolve the problem. The causes have to be resolved."

Schaeuble added: "It's not going to help to take money to it. The decisive thing is to credibly fight the causes of the crisis. It's succeeding very well in Ireland and Portugal. It's not succeeding very well in Greece. But it must succeed in Greece. There's no other way to do this."

Schaeuble said Greece has clearly not done enough.

"Greece hasn't tried enough so far, that has to be said quite clearly," Schaeuble said. "That has to be said with respect for the domestic political difficulties. But no one on earth who has followed this issue would think that Greece has fulfilled what it has promised.

"Italy and Spain are different on this question," he added. "They're making great reform efforts."

Schaeuble dismissed advice from U.S. President Barack Obama, who has called on Europe to do more to fight the crisis.

"Mr. Obama should focus on reducing the American deficit," Schaeuble said. "It's higher than in the euro zone. You have to understand that people are always ready to give others advice quickly. Our argument is 'we're ready' (to do more). We want more Europe."

(Reporting By Erik Kirschbaum)



Money manager Ezra Merkin to settle Madoff-related suit with New York - New York Post

Money manager Ezra Merkin has agreed to pay $410 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general that accused Merkin of steering client money to Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, a person familiar with the settlement said on Sunday.

Justice Richard Lowe of New York state court signed off on the settlement on Friday, the person said, and it is expected to be announced on Monday. The person asked not to be identified because of not being authorized to talk about the matter.

Under the agreement, Merkin will pay $405 million to compensate investors over three years, the person said. The other $5 million will go to the state.

Attorney Andrew Levander, who represents Merkin, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Sunday.

Jennifer Givner, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, could not be reached for comment.

The settlement does not resolve a separate case brought against Merkin by Irving Picard, the trustee seeking money for all of Madoff's victims. Picard is trying to claw back $500 million that Merkin and his funds withdrew from accounts with Madoff.

Amanda Remus, a spokeswoman for Picard, did not respond to an email seeking comment on the status of any settlement talks with Merkin over Picard's suit.

The New York lawsuit, brought in 2009 by Andrew Cuomo, the attorney general at the time, said Merkin "recklessly" fed money from investors in his funds into Madoff's Ponzi scheme, while claiming he actively managed their money.

Merkin held himself out as an "investing guru" and collected more than $470 million in management and other fees while he was really a "master marketer," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit accused Merkin of self-dealing, reckless conduct and gross negligence. It sought restitution and damages and to stop Merkin from serving on any nonprofit organization or as an investment manager.

Merkin had some $2.4 billion invested with Madoff, according to the lawsuit.

Merkin, a graduate of Columbia College and Harvard Law School, was a trustee, along with Madoff, of Yeshiva University. The university lost $110 million to Madoff.

Charities and other nonprofits are among those whose funds went to Madoff through Merkin without their knowledge.

Merkin resigned as nonexecutive chairman of GMAC LLC, the financing arm of General Motors, after the Madoff scandal. GMAC is now Ally Financial.

Madoff pleaded guilty in March 2009 to perpetrating the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history and is serving a 150-year prison sentence.

As of May 18, Picard has recovered or entered into agreements to recover more than $9 billion, over half the $17.3 billion in principal estimated lost by Madoff firm customers who filed claims, according to the trustee's website.

Reuters

Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters. Click For Restrictions



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Ocado set to name new finance chief - Financial Times

June 24, 2012 8:15 pm



Kate Bleasdale 'encouraged and condoned' falsification of accounts - Daily Telegraph

Neither Ms Bleasdale nor HCL disagreed that company accounts had been doctored by the former finance director Diane Jarvis. However, Ms Bleasdale claimed she had no part in the action and had instead blown the whistle when it came to her attention.

The tribunal disagreed and decided in favour of HCL, agreeing that Ms Bleasdale and Ms Jarvis falsified accounts that led to an overstatement of profit by around £10m. The false accounts were then used to obtain financing from Australian banks.

The legal ruling is littered with the word "fraud" in relation to how the accounts for HCL were drawn up. It also details how the company's bank Barclays uncovered instances of overstating accounts and double invoicing.

HCL suspended trading in its shares in January 2011 after it uncovered what it then described as "serious accounting irregularities". The details revealed in the employment tribunal are the first clear picture of exactly what happened in the company in the lead up to its 2010 refinancing. Ms Bleasdale has said she will appeal the ruling.



Greek PM, incoming finance minister to miss EU summit - Yahoo Finance

By Lefteris Papadimas and Deepa Babington

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's new prime minister and incoming finance minister, who have been ill, will miss this week's EU summit when Athens will propose easing the terms of its bailout and international lenders have had to postpone a first meeting with the team.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras underwent eye surgery on Saturday and Vassilis Rapanos is in hospital after suffering from nausea, intense abdominal pains and dizziness on Friday before he could be sworn in as finance minister.

Instead, the foreign minister and outgoing finance minister will attend the June 28-29 meeting to ask for the terms of the 130 billion euro ($162.96 billion) bailout to be loosened.

The unexpected turn of events forced the postponement of a visit to Athens on Monday by officials from Greece's "troika" of lenders - the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.

The officials had been expected to meet Samaras and Rapanos and set a later date for a review of Greece's implementation of reforms required under the program.

An IMF spokeswoman confirmed the Fund's representative, deputy director of the IMF's European department Poul Thomsen, would not be arriving. "Poul Thomsen's visit has been postponed and new dates have not yet been set," the spokeswoman said.

An EU spokesman also said the troika visit had been postponed.

Samaras's coalition government, sworn in last week, has called for the renegotiation of the painful terms of the financial lifeline, which is keeping Greece from bankruptcy but at the cost of harsh economic suffering.

The government faces a stern test at the two-day EU summit, with euro zone paymaster Germany particularly resistant to giving Athens any leeway.

Greece will be represented by Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos and outgoing Finance Minister George Zanias, government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou said.

GERMANY URGES ACTION

He said Samaras would leave hospital on Monday after undergoing a successful operation to repair a damaged retina.

"The orders of his doctor are for him not to travel and to stay at home for a few days," he said. The hospital said his condition was "good and improving."

"The prime minister cannot travel by car or by plane," Panagiotis Theodosiadis, chief doctor at the Attika hospital, told Mega TV.

Responding to strong public pressure during a fifth year of recession, the government's program calls for tax cuts, extra help for the poor and unemployed, a freeze on public sector lay-offs and more time to cut its deficit.

Greece's euro zone partners have offered only adjustments to make up for the weeks of paralysis during two elections since early May and a deeper than expected recession.

But there will be no radical re-write, they say. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Greece had already forfeited much of Europe's trust.

"The most important task facing new prime minister Samaras is to enact the program agreed upon quickly and without further delay instead of asking how much more others can do for Greece," Schaeuble told Bild am Sonntag.

Greece's new coalition brings together New Democracy, Socialist PASOK and the small Democratic Left in an uneasy alliance facing an emboldened opposition.

Before he could be sworn in, incoming Finance Minister Rapanos was rushed to the Hygeia Hospital. Doctors said on Saturday he had undergone a scanning test and that he was "stable and improving." He was to continue drug therapy but no further details were available on his illness.

Samaras's New Democracy narrowly won the June 17 election, a re-run of a vote on May 6 that produced stalemate. The radical leftist Syriza bloc surged into second place on a promise to tear up the terms of the bailout, potentially forcing Greece out of Europe's single currency. ($1 = 0.7977 euros)

(Writing by Matt Robinson; editing by Anna Willard)


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