Amid concerns over the slow pace of privatization efforts, the head of Greece’s agency overseeing the sales of state-owned firms has been fired for an ethical lapse.

 

Stelios Stavridis, chairman of Taiped, which directs the country’s privatization programs, was fired Sunday after an Athens newspaper published a picture of him aboard the private jet of a Greek oil tycoon involved in the sale of the state gaming company Opap.

 

Dimitris Melissanidis, a leading investor in a Greek-Czech equity fund purchasing the Greek government’s 33 percent stake in the firm, offered Stavridis a ride home aboard his Lear jet after the contract was signed Aug. 12 in Athens, according to the Financial Times.

 

“He was traveling to France and said he could drop me off on the island of Kefalonia on his way,” Stavridis explained.

 

A senior finance ministry official said Stavridis was fired for “ethical reasons  . . .  it was an unfortunate mistake that couldn’t be overlooked”.

 

The ouster of Stavridis — the third chairman of Taiped to be ousted in the 12 months — raises concerns about additional delays in the country’s privatization program, which already faces a revenue shortfall this year.

 

No announcement has been made thus far on whether Yannis Emiris, Taiped’s managing director, would also assume the agency’s chairmanship.