Ο Theodoros Karipidis is a typical example businessman, who, although he has been embroiled in financial scandals for years (his own are primarily related to the supermarket chain he used to own), manages to operate, thanks in part to its friendly relations with the government.
Known primarily for his involvement in the food retail sector, since he owned a supermarket, Karipidis, despite apparently owing hundreds of millions of euros to the government, social security agencies, banks, and, above all, to former employees of his companies, managed, in the midst of the pandemic, to secure funds from the state treasury through contracts with government agencies. One of these is the contract with the Attica Region for the provision of rapid tests.
This is a scandalous case since, as it turned out, the prices agreed upon by the Regional Authority and the company linked to Mr. Karipidis were several times higher than the prevailing market rates at the time.
Sports official
At the same time, even though he is deep in debt, it seems he is planning to build a new stadium for his team Aris Thessaloniki, in which he is a major shareholder. He even announced this happy news for the «yellow-and-black» family at the recent Thessaloniki International Fair the prime minister himself, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, noting both during his speech and at the press conference he gave that the way is now being paved for Aris, in coordination with the municipalities of Thessaloniki and Pylaia, to acquire its new stadium.
Theod. Karypidis also met in early September at the Maximos Mansion with the Minister of State, George Gerapetritis so that they could discuss the ambitious project, the cost of which is estimated to exceed 110 million euros. Karypidis’s connection to the «blue apartment building» is certainly no secret. It is, after all, well known that the businessman accompanied the prime minister and the Deputy Minister of Finance, George Zavvos, during their meetings in China in November 2020. Of course, the topic of intense discussion in the business circles where Theod. Karipidis operates is none other than the How does he manage to run his business—especially with the prime minister’s staff on his side—when he owes hundreds of millions?.
Debts to employees
The approximately 1,400 employees of the Karypidis supermarket chain—which no longer exists since the company has filed for bankruptcy— have experienced the worst side of troubled business practices over the past five years. According to reliable sources, Their total claims amount to 70 million euros, while the debts of Mr. Karipidis’s bankrupt company to the tax authorities and social security funds amount to, according to the latest available data from the Independent Authority for Public Revenue, to 111,031,933 euros. However, the family’s other company, Karipidis Pallets, also had debts to the government totaling more than 1 million euros during the same period. Before the big showdown and while numerous meetings were taking place with supermarket employees—even in the presence of the then-Secretary General of the Ministry of Labor, Andreas Nefeloudis—Theod. Karipidis promised that he would pay wages, something that has not happened to this day. Moreover, the government and the banks take priority over the workers.
In any case, Karypidis Brothers, Inc., the commercial and export company that owned the supermarkets, filed for bankruptcy in April 2019.
According to reports, the creditor notification process was recently completed, and the financial claims of the employees—who have not yet received their outstanding wages—have been verified. At this stage, The process of selling off the company’s assets is expected to begin so that subsequently—once the amounts to be made available are known—the payment schedules can be drawn up. What must be taken for granted, however, is that Employees will have to wait to receive any payments, since they are not a priority. Moreover, although the employees were set to receive a certain amount following the sale of a property owned by Karypidis’s company prior to the declaration of bankruptcy, the creditor banks filed an objection, blocking all proceedings. Indicative of the situation in which Karypidis’s former employees now find themselves is the fact that In 2017, a 42-year-old employee of his took her own life.
Government Supplier
Although the Karypidis case—regarding his business activities in the supermarket sector—had been known since 2016, and has even been discussed in Parliament from time to time, he himself he saw luck smile upon him in the midst of the pandemic. His business dealings through another company in which he has a stake, under the name Amani Swiss, ... would perhaps be the envy of many bankrupt businesspeople who, in the midst of the crisis, are looking for ways to return to the limelight. Theod. Karipidis—or, more precisely, the company Amani Swiss Cyprus Limited, which has branches in Cyprus and Greece and has owned Aris FC since March 2019—, Over the past year and a half, it has managed to sign a series of contracts with the government, from which it has received millions. Prior to that, it had amended its articles of incorporation so that it could supply medical and hospital supplies to anyone who requested them.
New Business Ventures During the Pandemic
Since the start of the pandemic, Amani Swiss has undertaken a series of projects on behalf of organizations in the broader public sector, and even for the Athens Medical Association, chaired by the regional governor of Attica, George Patoulis. This fact might be insignificant if the most widely discussed contract between the government and the company linked to Karipidis were not the one signed in January 2021 with the Region of Attica. This is a contract for the supply of rapid tests to the Region at a price that is much higher—according to the Regional opposition—than the price offered on the open market.
In this case, the Attica Region agreed to purchase 107,066 rapid tests from Amani Swiss at a price of 9.26 euros per unit. In other words, the total amount borne by the citizens of Attica came to 991,431.16 euros.
It appears, however, from the relevant award decision that the minority in the Regional Council raised objections.
Specifically, There had been a request for an open process rather than a closed invitation to only three companies, in order to secure more cost-effective bids, while it appears that The company affiliated with Karipidis, which was contracted to carry out the project, did not, as required, provide documentation regarding the technical specifications of the material it would supply from an independent certification body, but merely submitted its own brochure.
Perhaps most important of all, of course, is the fact that, as the minority pointed out, The product in question, which was of Chinese origin, was sold on a Chinese online marketplace for just 2.30 euros each. In other words, The Attica Region purchased the tests at three times the price one could find online, but also much more expensive than the tests the Ministry of Health had purchased from an American company, for which it was paying approximately 5 euros per unit around the same time. Questions naturally arise from the fact that The Amani Swiss product was not—according to the minority’s allegations—listed on the World Health Organization’s official website.
Projects Involving Multiple Organizations
The excellent cooperation between the company affiliated with Karypidis and the Region of Attica is not, however, evident solely from the contract for rapid tests. This is because earlier, specifically on March 20, 2020—just a few days after the announcement of the first lockdown and at a time when, according to the head of the infectious disease committee, mask use was recommended only for patients, it was decided to purchase 200,000 face masks from Amani Swiss for 160,000 euros, and this was done following a request addressed exclusively to that specific company at the suggestion of the Deputy Regional Governor for Finance. On April 7 of the same year, a decision was made to purchase an additional 300,000 masks for 234,048 euros from Ocean 8, a company also linked to Karypidis, while on April 28, a decision was made to purchase another 500,000 masks from Amani Swiss for 390,000 euros.
In this case, an open call for bids was issued, and three other companies participated, offering lower prices than Amani. However, their bids were rejected on the grounds that the delivery time exceeded the five-day limit specified in the call for bids. This final decision was ultimately overturned; however, companies affiliated with Karipidis had already secured nearly 400,000 euros to supply the Region with masks. Sources within the Regional Authority pointed out that «there is a preferential relationship with one company, which was awarded the contract to supply 500,000 masks at a price of 0.78–0.80 euros per mask, and to which an attempt was made to award the contract for another 500,000 masks at this same exorbitant price. At the same time, the retail price was 0.58 euros per mask. Therefore, the budget should have been reduced to below 0.55 euros per mask. The latest procurement was canceled amid an outcry from the opposition, but the administration has not abandoned its goal and continues to push to award the contract to that specific company—and at the same exorbitant price.».
Finally, it is interesting that Amani Swiss not only collaborates with the Region of Attica, but has also signed contracts worth many thousands of euros with, among others, the Municipality of Athens, the Ministry of Health, the Region of the Ionian Islands, the Municipality of Southern Corfu, the Regional Union of Municipalities of the Ionian Islands, and the Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Technology S.A. (I-FET), which is under the Ministry of Health.
