MANY RECENT scandals suggest that the former President of the European Patent Office (EPO) belongs behind bars. We often wonder quite genuinely, why is this man not in prison with Benalla and instead on top of a law school (CEIPI)? It's a slap across the face to the very occupation. Remember what we wrote a year ago about toxic loans? Here's a reminder and index:
"It doesn't take a genius to figure out where this money came from and who it is cushioning."It was only days ago that we recalled Battistelli siphoning millions, sending them to his colleagues at his own theatre in Paris. What level of criminality will be necessary to hold criminals accountable when their crimes are committed under diplomatic immunity?
The following new post from an EPO insider (published this morning) spoke of an apparent coverup by Team António Campinos (a former banker from a notoriously corrupt Portuguese bank). Under "Zero-sum game" it says:
A few days ago, the financial status report was published. Within that report, the following gem was found:
In 2018 the Office transferred its legacy bonds portfolio to the EPO Treasury Investment Fund (EPOTIF) which holds the funds in line with the Strategic Asset Allocation approved by the BFC. As at the end of 2018 the total value of EPOTIF units was € 2 460m, which includes a revaluation loss for the year of € 97m.
Just after two days that sentence was redacted, it now reads:
In 2018 the Office transferred its legacy bonds portfolio to the EPO Treasury Investment Fund (EPOTIF) which holds the funds in line with the Strategic Asset Allocation approved by the BFC. As at the end of 2018 the total value of EPOTIF units was € 2 460m.
Märpel is confident that the readers will spot the difference. Hint: it involves 97 millions Euros.
That amount of money was lost between mai and December 2018. Or, more precisely, it was lost for the EPO. Short term speculation is usually a zero-sum game: when somebody loses, somebody else wins. Why do you think that President Battistelli absolutely had to get EPOTIF approved just one month before he left the Office?