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Marina Nikolova

The ones affected by the bankruptcy of the insurance company Aspida few months ago want to receive 100% compensation for the contracts they have made and to receive back the money they have invested for pension and health insurance at the amounts between 25 000 - 200 00 euro. According t the bill of the Ministry of economy for the Control over the private insurance, which was published in internet on Friday and according to the interpretation of the lawyer Zaharias Papadopoulos the people affected by the bankruptcy of Aspida could receive 50% of their money after 2013.

“This is the final version of the bill. There are still many unclear points regarding the transitional regulations for the companies who have already gone bankrupt and are in the process of disintegration” said Mr. Papadopoulos.

The people insured in Aspida don’t have much time to waste in order to develop their strategy before the court where they have decided to look for their rights. They have about a month time because the bill for the Control over the private insurance is expected to be voted in the first six months of this year. According to lawyer Papadopoulos after the bill is voted the cases of the people affected by the bankruptcy of the company have to be already filed in the court.

However before them stands the choice of hiring a lawyer who will undertake the case on behalf of everybody or to join together in groups according to the type of their insurances and to file complaints in accordance with the different cases. It is expected that the case of the people who were affected will be undertaken by at least three lawyers among which is the deputy chairman of the Lawyers’ Union Dimitris Vervesos.

According to an announcement of the yet unofficial Union of the people affected by the bankruptcy of Aspida they will hold a big press conference on March 20^th, 2010 in the Imperial Hotel in Athens where they will present in details every step they have currently made and they will announce their future actions.

“My entire pension was lost. What will I tell my children now?!” says a man at about 60 years old. Another man discusses how after the bankruptcy of Asida his wife had to be taken in a hospital and in spite of the fact that until that time the man was regularly paying the health insurance installments, from the hospital they “almost kicked him out”. “I have no faith in the private insurance companies any more” he says holding his head and biting his lips, while thinking of what he had to go through.

The Union of the people affected which is currently being formed is still gathering its members. Catherine Sideri is one of the organizers of the press conference of this union. It is obvious that she has taken the things in her hands and is handling the searching of the victims of this case with the insurance company gone bankrupt. She complains that the insurers do not disclose the names and contact details of the people who were insured because of the confidence of information. However Mrs. Sideri and some other 60 people who have gathered in the conference hall of the Union of the foreign correspondents have decided to find all the people affected by the bankruptcy of the company and to act together in order to receive their life time savings.

“We lost our money, let us not loose our job” says one of the women who has left her workplace during the lunch break in order to be present at the meeting. According to the data provided by the lawyer Dimitris Vervesos – deputy chairman of the Lawyers’ Union in Athens, the active insurances in Aspida are 860 000 and the deficit of the company is huge – it reaches the amount of 480 – 500 million euro. “Nobody can guarantee that this money will be paid back” says the lawyer Mr. Vervesos and he also adds that it has been determined from the company documents and by authorized accountants that since 2002 insurance frauds have been made by the president and the owner of the insurance company Aspida Pavlos Psomiadis.

A problem for the work of the judicial system is also the presence of 17 complaints against the members of the board of directors of the company which have been filed in court about six months ago and for none of them has even started a legal investigation. According to Mr. Vervesos if there is legal procedure started the opening of the bank accounts of the members of the board of directors of Aspida cannot be enforced.

At the same time a court order issued two days ago levied distraint over the property of the former chairman and owner of Aspida Pavlos Psomiadis and his wife and daughter. Let us just remind that Pavlos Psomiadis is also accused in the case with the official warranty document for the amount of 550 million euro which he has submitted in the Supervisory Committee for the private insurance companies in order to save his company from bankruptcy.

We can also add the fact that according to the new bill of the Ministry of economy for the Control over the private insurers and the condition of the guarantee capital for the private “Life insurance”, is eliminated the existence of the Supervisory Committee for the private insurance companies created in 2004 and all the companies from the banking and insurance industries fall under the supervision of the Bank of Greece. The guarantee capital for the private “Life insurance” is formed in the shape of a legal entity from the private legislation with the purpose of saving or transferring the contracts of the people insured to another insurance company or companies and in case this is not done – the contract is being broken and a compensation is being paid to the insured.