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Syriza "Rebels" Planned To Ransack Greek Mint, Seize Cash Reserves, Arrest Central Bank Governor

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Earlier this week, in an FT op-ed, Eurointelligence’s Wolfgang Münchau said that in his estimation, an EMU exit remains the most likely outcome for Greece. The reason, Münchau explained, is that "[Greek PM Alexis] Tsipras ended up with another very lousy bailout deal. And this one suffers from the same fundamental flaws as its predecessors." Münchau went on to describe, in vivid detail, how he believes a Grexit would unfold: 

My own most likely Grexit scenario is a different one yet again. Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, hinted at this in his interview with the Financial Times last week when he said that he felt "something revolutionary" in the air. He is on to something. The most probable scenario for me is Grexit through insurrection.

Whether he knew it when he penned those words or not, Münchau’s vision for Greece nearly unfolded just over a week ago when, according to FT, Syriza’s Left Platform (led by outspoken former Energy Minister Panayotis Lafazanis) met in at the Oscar hotel in a "shabby" downtown district of Athens and plotted to ransack the Greek mint, seize the country’s currency reserves, and arrest central bank chief Yannis Stournaras.

It’s not entirely clear from the piece what the conspirators - who FT makes sure to mention included "supporters of the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez" and "old-fashioned communists" - planned to do next, but it certainly seems likely that if what you’re about to read is true, Greece came dangerously close to civil war last Wednesday. 

Via FT:

Arresting the central bank’s governor. Emptying its vaults. Appealing to Moscow for help.

 

These were the elements of a covert plan to return Greece to the drachma hatched by members of the Left Platform faction of Greece’s governing Syriza party.

 

They were discussed at a July 14 meeting at the Oscar Hotel in a shabby downtown district of Athens following an EU summit that saw Greece cave to its creditors, leaving many in the party feeling despondent and desperate.

 

The plans have come to light through interviews with participants in the meeting as well as senior Greek officials and sympathetic journalists who were waiting outside the gathering and briefed on the talks.

 

"Obviously it was a moment of high tension," a Syriza activist said, describing the atmosphere as the meeting opened. "But you were also aware of a real revolutionary spirit in the room."

 

Yet even hardline communists were taken aback when Mr Lafazanis proposed that the Syriza government should seize control of the Nomismatokopeion, the Greek mint, where the bulk of the country’s cash reserves are kept.

 

"Our plan is that we go for a national currency. This is what we should have done already. But we can do it now," he said, according to people present at the meeting.

 

Mr Lafazanis said the reserves, which he claimed amounted to €22bn, would pay for pensions and public sector wages and also keep Greece supplied with food and fuel while preparations were made for launching a new drachma.

 

Meanwhile, the central bank would immediately lose its independence and be placed under government control. Its governor, Yannis Stournaras, would be arrested if, as expected, he opposed the move.

 

As the details of the Left Platform meeting have leaked out, some political opponents are demanding an accounting.

 

"Members of this government planned a trip to hell for Greeks," said Stavros Theodorakis, leader of the pro-EU To Potami party. “They planned to raid the vaults of the people and invade the mint as if it were a Playmobil game. Alexis Tsipras must tell us the truth about what happened."

While the plan might have seemed straightforward enough on paper, and likely sounded like a good idea in the heat of the moment (assuming the meeting happened when FT says it did, Tsipras had betrayed the referendum outcome and agreed to hand over the country's sovereignty to Berlin less than 48 hours earlier), it turns out that simply seizing the physical bank notes in the vault and firing up Greece's euro printing presses wasn't actually a viable option. "Anyone who tried to buy something with [those euros] would be at risk of being arrested for forgery," one unnamed ECB official told FT, rather flatly. 

Recall that just days before Tsipras arrived in Brussels for his "mental waterboarding", Lafazanis had enthusiastically laid out the plans for Greece's partnership with Russia on Gazprom's Turkish Stream pipeline, exclaiming in the process that "Greece is no one's hostage" and that "the Greek people's No vote is not going to become a humiliating Yes."

(Follow me to the mint!)

Lafazanis, FT notes, "visited Moscow three times as Mr Tsipras’s envoy after Syriza came to power in January. In return for signing up to a new gas pipeline project, he hoped for at least €5bn in prepayments of gas transit fees, according to people briefed on the initiative. But the Russians rejected the deal the week before the EU summit." Some reports have also suggested that Moscow backed out of a deal to provide Athens with a loan to launch the new drachma.

We'll leave it to readers to digest the above and determine how close the Greek mint was to being commandeered by bloodthirsty (politically speaking that is) communists, but it's worth noting that according to one bank official who spoke to FT, "it was all a fantasy."

 

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Fri, 07/24/2015 - 16:48 | 6350580 Kaiser Sousa
Kaiser Sousa's picture

Arrest???

hit me when they announce "will kill head of its Central Bank..."

until then...more barking little doggies....

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 16:52 | 6350594 realmoney2015
realmoney2015's picture

Exacly. Who do you think own the courts thatt hey would be tried in or the prisons that they would be sentenced to even IF they were ever convicted?

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:05 | 6350637 SWRichmond
SWRichmond's picture

Looting is ok, but arresting central bankers is "home grown terrorism".

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:10 | 6350655 Four chan
Four chan's picture

dont they know? it's gone.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:55 | 6350839 Oracle of Kypseli
Oracle of Kypseli's picture

Greece do as you told or else.

What we don't know is what have they been told.

http://greece.greekreporter.com/2014/05/26/turkish-ships-violate-greek-t...

Power play of the month.

 

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 18:01 | 6350868 Doña K
Doña K's picture

Are you saying that you can't buy weapons with drachmas?

 

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 18:09 | 6350893 Ayreos
Ayreos's picture

No one gives a shit about Greece, even the greeks. Let Turkey have it back already.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 20:26 | 6351304 BuddyEffed
BuddyEffed's picture

Hey ZH, can any conclusions be drawn between the current recovery status of Haiti, from their earthquake?  How's that going?  Is there anything encouraging there for Greece or any other austere peoples?

Sat, 07/25/2015 - 00:20 | 6351861 monad
monad's picture

I care. Good, bad, what goes around comes around.

Sat, 07/25/2015 - 15:50 | 6353586 monad
Fri, 07/24/2015 - 18:00 | 6350864 Sanity Bear
Sanity Bear's picture

Why would you silence such a valuable source of intelligence? Think of how many others he would rat on with the proper methods of persuasion.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 16:50 | 6350585 Two Theives and...
Two Theives and a Liar's picture

Free the Drachma!

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 16:50 | 6350589 HowdyDoody
HowdyDoody's picture

The Tsipras regime has also signed a Status of Forces Agreement with the IDF, protecting both sides from prosecution when training in the other's country. The only other country that has done this is the bought-and-paid-for US.

Some time ago Greece supported (to a degree) protests against the Israel regime's actions in Gaza. That is now clearly no longer the case.

http://mondoweiss.net/2015/07/greeces-syriza-military

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:12 | 6350657 rwe2late
rwe2late's picture

 The charlatan Tsipras has proven himself to be the front man

for a takeover of Greece by militarists and financial con artists.

Tsipras government strengthens military ties to US for "stability"
http://www.sigmalive.com/en/news/greece/129935/kammenos-meets-us-under-s...

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 16:51 | 6350590 Soul Glow
Soul Glow's picture

Seems honorable.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 16:51 | 6350591 Prober
Prober's picture

Expell ALL the socialists and communists WORLDWIDE.

END ALL income taxes and entitlement programs.

Prosperity will follow.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 16:52 | 6350595 thunderchief
thunderchief's picture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6OI_Ia5Qdg

The one on the outside of the train is obviously Greece.

The woman is Christine Lagarde from the IMF.

And then their is the Troika.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 16:55 | 6350601 MayIMommaDogFac...
MayIMommaDogFace2theBananaPatch's picture

They planned to raid the vaults of the people and invade the mint as if it were a Playmobil game. 

I would definitely Pay-Per-View that shit if it was on cable.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 16:55 | 6350604 kliguy38
kliguy38's picture

LOL...... "These chickenshit politicians won't move one lil finger as long as the Troika keeps them on the Dole"

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 16:58 | 6350613 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

The word is 'putsch'. You need to have the people on your side and aware that shit is going down. These clowns would have failed and been tried for treason. If your going to overthrow/change the government, make sure you have, at least, a slight chance to win.....

Sun, 07/26/2015 - 19:25 | 6357011 Glorious Kataifi
Glorious Kataifi's picture

First of all, you need to have the army on your side.

Internally, the army is the ultimate decider. Monopoly of legitimate violence and all that.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 16:59 | 6350618 pot_and_kettle
pot_and_kettle's picture

shit just gets better and better

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:03 | 6350629 wmbz
wmbz's picture

Banksters Inc. has the Greeks on choker collars with a short leash, they will do as they are told.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:24 | 6350705 Stormtrooper
Stormtrooper's picture

Is there a website for Greek brides/sex slaves yet?

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 19:31 | 6351131 knukles
Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:12 | 6350635 r101958
r101958's picture

Another false flag. Another win-win (for the central banks and cronies); the markets will go down (CB's make a tidy profit) and then when it doesn't happen or is quelled they will go back up (CB's make a tidy profit).

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:05 | 6350638 WTFUD
WTFUD's picture

The Central Bank Governor HANGING by the neck would have made a great statement to the ROW.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:06 | 6350641 chunga
chunga's picture

Rumors are flying about what almost might of happened. The only ransacking that went on was by the bankers, as usual. 

Alleged Greek $10bn plea to Putin for printing drachma not true – Kremlin

http://www.rt.com/business/310454-greece-drachma-russia-tsipras/

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:06 | 6350642 i_call_you_my_base
i_call_you_my_base's picture

LOL, they had the press there? You might want to keep your revolution secret.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:06 | 6350643 Moccasin
Moccasin's picture

You gotta' break a few eggs to make an omelet. After the bankster fraud and the looting of Greece I wish them well.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:10 | 6350652 no1ninja
no1ninja's picture

"We will take over the mint, the reserves arrest the banker.... and then do what the Germans want us to do."

 

 

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:10 | 6350654 Salah
Salah's picture

ex-CIA Director George Tenet, "I'm Greek and we're conspiratorial by nature...."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsXn3naIeYA   (in first 30 seconds)

can't make this shit up

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:11 | 6350656 The Delicate Genius
The Delicate Genius's picture

as to the Syria rebels:

British troops head to Saudi Arabia to train Syrian rebels
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiarabia/1175380...

Five to one, baby, one in five. No one here gets out alive now. You get yours, baby, I'll get mine...

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:18 | 6350681 WTFUD
WTFUD's picture

There are NO rebels in Syria, only Traitors and Saudi Paid Scum.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 18:03 | 6350874 The Delicate Genius
The Delicate Genius's picture

true enough.

Clearly the Deep State is losing patience with the fact Assad is holding on against thousands of Saudi-paid mercs and periodic Israeli airstrikes.

I don't know what Iran or Russia plan to do - if they let Syria go down, Lebanon may be next after Israel finds/creates a pre-text.

Shit will never end. NWO, Zionist - whatever, it's all chickenhawk megalomania.

If I were Assad, I'd let Israel know that next IDF plane in his airspace means he will launch every conventional missile he has at Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Dimona.

Sat, 07/25/2015 - 01:30 | 6351929 talisman
talisman's picture

Israel needs to get rid of Assad and Nasrullah as part of their plan
to conquer and fully iccupy Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon and subjugate or
exterminate the arab populations, then extend their border
to the Mediterranean..The Iran nuclear agreement with the West
is a major setback for Israel that they will now have to devise
a strategy around

Sat, 07/25/2015 - 13:44 | 6353204 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

Eh, Israel borders on the mediterranean. Anyaw, at one point Israel occupied Gaza, Sinai, southern Lebanon  and all of the west bank.

It gave back Sinai in the 80's. Gave back southern Lebanon in 1990. Gave back Gaza in 2001. Handed half of the west bank to palestinian authority. Yes, Israel abandoned Gaza, a former egyptian city the egyptians didnt want back with the rest of Sinai, and then closed the border. Which is not the only border in Gaza, they have one with Egypt not under Israel's control.

Unless the master plan calls for a 40 year long strategic retreat to Tel Aviv, Israel has spent more time losing territories in its history than actually expanding.

My personal opinion is that Israeli governments are not following any plan no matter who wrote them. All the generals have bugout mansions in Switzerland and never gave a shit about greater Israel fantasies. Either than or they recognize there is no actual possible use for any lebensraum considering how 90% of Israelies like to concentrate in a thin strip of land between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The north and south of the country lie empty, whats the point is taking over some land if your citizens dont want to settle there?

Ah, its for resources, some will say. Water! Israel gets plenty of water from desalination and distributes the excess to Gaza, the West Bank and Jordan.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:11 | 6350658 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

Hey banksters:

Money for nothing, guillotines for free.

Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission..

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:24 | 6350707 tarabel
tarabel's picture

 

 

Quite the band of secret plotters they got there.

Inviting "journalists" to wait outside their confidential strategy session while they iron out the details of their plot to seize power.

And how did they expect to "seize" 22 billion dollars in Central Bank funds? Did they suppose that it was in neatly-stacked bags down in the vault? Was a large string of donkeys put on standby alert for the actual spiriting away of the funds?

No wonder Putin fobs off his Hellenic admirers with empty promises of support that come with no cash attached to them.

 

 

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:49 | 6350814 WTFUD
WTFUD's picture

Hi Tara luv

Unlike the Mercs who shifted the Ukrainian Gold in the WEE early hours.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:29 | 6350721 q99x2
q99x2's picture

Crowd fund the militaries.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:37 | 6350762 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

  Killing the central bank head is just symbolic. Greece is bankrupt, and Tsipras is giving the orders. (for now)

 No offense, but Tsipras has always looked like a little loud~mouthed prick to me. He's only 40 years old and way out of his league.

 He's looked like he was being led by an invisible leash from day (1) of this never ending saga.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:38 | 6350763 monad
monad's picture

You know this is a fake news item. If you were going to organize a conspiracy to steal gold from the government, who would you tell? Even if you didn't go through with it?This is for the stupid, by the stupid.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:37 | 6350767 mog
mog's picture
Syriza "Rebels" Planned To Ransack Greek Mint, Seize Cash Reserves, Arrest Central Bank Governor

 

Classic case of one man's rebels being another man's patriots.

As far as I am concerned undoubtedly patriots.

 

 

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:41 | 6350788 Guentzburgh
Guentzburgh's picture

Elections must be coming soon in Greece and the FT is preparing, mud bucket on the ready.

So much garbage by the Mass Media.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 17:49 | 6350815 geno-econ
geno-econ's picture

Any wonder Monday Troika implementation trip to Athens was delayed.  Official reason given was that security was not yet finalized.  May be more to this than reported considering party dissatisfaction, public discontent and percieved German takeover of a soveriegn state.  This is only chapter one in a long saga of mistakes that can not end well

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 18:01 | 6350865 Sturm und Drang
Sturm und Drang's picture

I know a thing or two about putsches. Looong overdue in my view.

Seems to me there's a monkey run amok pushing all the hot buttons to get this thing to blow up.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 18:18 | 6350866 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 Just wait until the Germans tell G-6 to go pound sand, and start publically selling technology to Russia ,Iran, China and the rest of the lot. Russian oil looks pretty cheap right now.

  You reap what you sow bitchez.

Based on the shit goings on in the States, China and Russia aren't much different from the Donkeys, Bears, Elephants, and Rinos.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 19:25 | 6351110 knukles
knukles's picture

Yen, you lost me there.  What are the "Donkeys, Bears, Elephants, and Rinos"?

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 18:06 | 6350885 quasi_verbatim
quasi_verbatim's picture

Don't get us started on 'Young Frankenstein'.

Hump? What hump?

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 18:27 | 6350978 The Greek horse
The Greek horse's picture

Greece is going to have a civil war there is no way around it! I truly believe there will be an attempt or a succession of a high level government being assassinated! I just hope it's from a citizen rather then a rival political figure.. Right now the MONKEYS ARE RUNNING the ZOO in Greece.. Sooner then later the IMF/EU BANKS are going to deploy funded secret co-ops to rape Greece of any assets it has.. I know for a fact Greece has untapped OIL RESERVES ( IONIAN SEA).. The ELITES WILL TAKE THAT OVER SOON.. MY prediction there will be blood for oil. History always repeats it self.. The only way the trajectory of this fateful event does not occur is if ALL people rise up and storm the PARLIAMENT simultaneously and then look for street justice because nobody is going to jail.. The only country in the world that has balls to actually arrest crooked BANKSTERS /POLITICIANS is ICELAND and there unemployment is less then 4%..  WHILE 50% of young Greeks are unemployed!

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 19:24 | 6351105 knukles
knukles's picture

Secret plans, eh?

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 20:03 | 6351221 monad
monad's picture

Jawohl, ve must raid ze vault before zey do! Qvik! Ve vill hide ze gold in ze Golem Sacks vault!

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 21:07 | 6351427 TeraByte
TeraByte's picture

Russian support for what. Do not some indicators show rather a backdoor deal of Rippentrop Pact 2.0 having been signed. Ukraine alleged recently it has been abandoned and Putin did give money to Greece to print drachmas. This could be a prime example, how major powers treat minor ones in general. If they need you as a cover up to justify driving their own self interests, they stand by you a while and then off you go. So Europe´s border lines have been fixed.

Fri, 07/24/2015 - 21:35 | 6351508 Anunnaki
Anunnaki's picture

Coulda, woulda, shoulda

Sat, 07/25/2015 - 03:44 | 6352071 DIGrif
DIGrif's picture

Somebody needs to send Tsipras's head to the troika as a form of answer. That's for damned sure.

Sat, 07/25/2015 - 09:00 | 6352357 roadhazard
roadhazard's picture

lol, I got a, "secret plan" too. I'm going to take over the world... oops.

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