GREECE - Investment bank JP Morgan has denied claims its offer to buy back of the scandal-ridden €280m Greek government bond has reached an impasse.

"There's no change and no news from our perspective," a spokesman for the investment bank told IPE yesterday.

Earlier this week, media reports suggested JP Morgan's offer had come to a standstill after union groups failed to accept the terms.

But the JP Morgan spokesman claims these are speculations, stating: "We have made comments in the past, I can refer you back to those statements saying we are going forward with the buyback and I think you are reading inaccurate reports."

This news comes as Giorgos Zorbas, head of a committee formed against money laundering, submitted the results of his probe into the affair to Athens prosecutor Panayiotis Poulis.

Though Zorbas' findings have not yet been made public, it is believed the probe could result in the prosecution of the heads of the four pension funds involved, who are expected to be summoned for questioning next month.

No-one at the Civil Servants Auxiliary Fund (TEADY), and Pension Fund of Newspaper Vendors, among the funds who overpaid for the bonds, was available for comment.

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