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The Greek TV Alpha has declared "war" on the management of the state lottery OPAP. A series of reports presented findings on the signing of contracts worth millions of euro several days before the start of the privatization procedure of the enterprise.

According to the journalist investigation, the problem is related to the direct procurement of services to a particular company. This is the Intralot company of the famous businessman Socrates Kokkalis. Moreover, this is not the first case of awarding the contracts directly to his company. The European Commission has referred the Greek authorities for this type of awarding without competitions twice, as this violates the rules of competition. Although criminal persecutions against five representatives of Intralot and OPAP for violations defined as criminal offenses were initiated in May 2011, the present management of the lottery continues the same vicious practice.

In statements to Alpha TV, OPAP lawyer George Ganotis said that the competition for the technological equipment has been running for a year and a half already and the commission has not yet taken a final decision. He said that no one knows whether the contract will be approved before or after the privatization of the enterprise. In response to a question about the refusal of OPAP to send the contracts to Parliament for verification, he said that the company is a legal entity of private law. "As such, it is not subject to parliamentary control, but anyway, all documents are available on the website of OPAP," he added.

In connection with previous contracts that the state lottery has signed with Intralot and the European Commission response, the lawyer resorted to the statements made by the competent European Commissioner Michel Barnier. In 2007 and 2010, he stated that in both cases the award procedures were conducted properly and without violations. George Ganotis did not comment on the criminal persecution against the representatives of Intralot and OPAP in essence. He noted that the particular provider is very important for the lottery, as a system failure, lasting a day, costs the company 15 million euro.

At the same time, the head of the state property utilization fund Ioannis Koukiadis said that supply contracts for large amounts should not be signed, because this will negatively affect the sale of OPAP. Many representatives of the political circle insist on transparency and compliance with all legal procedures too.

The pressure exerted by Alpha TV is hardly accidental, according to commentators. A publication in the online edition of Dealnews from a year ago states that the new old owner of the media Dimitris Kondominas is "attacking" Intralot and OPAP on purpose. Recently, he has redeemed the television from the German media group RTL, to which he had sold it three years ago.

The article writes that he, through the William Mill company and another unnamed Greek businessman, have bought the rights of Stanleybet for Greece. The aim of the businessmen and the British company was to open gambling sites in the country, but this is impossible at present. The reason is that until 2020, this monopoly belongs to the state lottery, which has bought it from the state against 317 million euro.

The two businessmen have been trying for years to secure a formal place in the system of legal gambling. The first legal attempts started with Stanleybet in 2004. The request of the company was rejected the same year and then, it turned to the Constitutional Court. Dimitris Kondominas along with the William Hill company made a similar request in 2006 but it was also rejected.

After two postponements and a number of conflicting opinions by the Constitutional Court judges, the court has "extended" the time for considering the complaints. OPAP does not seem to be worried about it because they rely on the European Union agreement, which grants the right of member states to concede the exclusive rights of the implementation, management and organization of bets to a single company.