Mardas

Alternate Minister for Revenue Dimitris Mardas expressed his optimism that talks between Greece and the Quartet will have wrapped up until August 20, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with business groups Friday. Mardas added that he was unaware when the capital controls would be lifted, while he added that the negotiations were moving forward at an intensive pace.

Alternate Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas on Wednesday said that Greece aims to pay its obligations on time based on the data it has available. He made the statement in an interview with private MEGA TV in response to a question as to whether the government will pay the ‘bundled’ amount of installments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the end of the month.

Greece's deputy finance minister has sued Germany's tabloid Bild newspaper over a story that appeared this month alleging he sent tens of thousands of euros to a bank account in Luxembourg at a time when his government had been appealing to Greeks to keep their savings in the country.

Greece's alternate Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas has denied a report in Germany's Bild newspaper that identified him as the government official alleged to have recently transferred 80,000 euros to a bank in Luxembourg.

Reports, which however did not reveal the name of the minister, first emerged in a Thessaloniki-based newspaper earlier in the week.

Alternate Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas, speaking with private MEGA TV on Wednesday, dismissed charges against him regarding a supposed 80,000-euro transaction taking money out of Greece and putting it into a Luxembourg account. He said that he has not siphoned any money out of the country since the snap elections saw the victory of the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) on January 25.

Alternate Revenue Minister Dimitris Mardas – the man responsible for ensuring that Greek coffers have enough money for the country to meet its needs – was named by Bild as the man that northern Greek newspapers had been refering to regarding an 80,000-euro deposit in Luxembourg in March.

Alt. Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas told private MEGA TV on Wednesday that there is a deficit of 350-400 mln euros that needs to be covered by April 27 so that the government can meet its obligations and pay salaries and pensions.

"We have a 350- to 400-mln-euro revenue deficit that needs to be covered by the end of the month in order to meet the country's needs," he said.

Alternate Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas was present at the emergency meeting called by the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece (KEDE) following a government decree for public bodies to transfer funds to the Bank of Greece (BoG). Mardas explained that the government hopes in this way to cover a "gap" in its finances worth 552 mln euros.

Mayors insisted on Tuesday that they would not allow their municipalities? cash reserves to be transferred to the Bank of Greece, as the government wants, at least until they have held a meeting with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

The alternate finance minister on Tuesday referred to "an urgent need that forces us to collect money", in comments to board members of a union representing the country's municipalities.