Monopoly

A Greek court ruled on Tuesday that OPAP’s betting monopoly in the country is legal, court officials said, rejecting a longstanding challenge by rival firms and securing the company’s market dominance in Greece.

OPAP, one of Europe’s biggest betting firms, has the exclusive right to offer lotteries in debt-laden Greece until 2030 and sports betting until 2020.

BELGRADE - There is great investor interest in the privatisation of Serbia's state-owned companies, Serbian Minister of Finance Dusan Vujovic said on Thursday.

"The Privatisation Agency has received many letters of interest, and as many as 60 percent of them are credible," Vujovic told a regional conference on free zones, held at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia.

NIS - Head of the Serbian actors' association Nikola Djuricko said Monday that actors will demand amendments to the copyright law that would extend legal protection on artists whose performance is visual and not just acoustic.

Djuricko made this announcement at a round table on the topic 'How to enforce minimum rights that restore dignity to the acting profession?'

BELGRADE - Adopting the bill of amendments to the privatisation law will solve the issue of the 584 companies that have not been privatised or are being restructured, Serbian Minister of Economy Dusan Vujovic said on Tuesday, adding that the end of next year will be the deadline for transforming those companies.

BELGRADE - Privatization through direct bargaining will no longer be possible, Serbian Economy Minister Dusan Vujovic said Monday, pointing to one of the most significant changes to the privatization law.

Turkey will make nearly $10 billion from privatization of state sales if all of the most recent privatizations, including the national lottery sale for an over the top price, were approved by the government Turkey’s income from privatizations since the beginning of the year has exceeded expectations, approaching $10 billion with the recent privatization of a 10-year national lottery li

Arrests in Azotara plant corruption case

BELGRADE -- Zekstra company owner and executive board chairman of the Veterinary Institute Dragan Đurić has been placed under arrest, Tanjug reported.

Along with him, owner and director of Akter DOO Tihomir Trišić and owner of Staša DOO Milan Divljak were also detained on Friday.

Greek lawmakers gave green light to a bill under which 30% of the Public Power Corporation (PPC) will be sold as part of a large-scale privatization program.

Opposition parties however submitted proposals to hold a referendum on the move, daily Kathimerini's website reports.

By Giorgos Lialios

State sell-off fund TAIPED announced on Monday that it was freezing the privatization process for the majority stake in the Thessaloniki Water Company (EYATH).

The government plans to prevent the annulment of some disputed privatizations in limbo using a new regulation that obstructs the re-transfer of privatized assets to the state.

A draft regulation that was added to an omnibus bill in Parliament protects privatization transactions over five years from cancellation.