Australian Branch Of Golden Dawn Raises Money For Austerity-Hit Greeks

Australia’s branch of the Greek extreme-right wing party Golden Dawn is raising funds using an unregistered charity, according to a recent “Guardian” article.

A Melbourne-based charity named Voithame Tin Ellada (VTE), which translates to “We Are Helping Greece,” has been raising money and clothing from Australia’s Greek community since late last year, the report finds. “The donations are ostensibly sent to Greece to help citizens afflicted by the country’s financial downturn. A shipping container of clothing collected from Australians was sent to Greece in March.”

Golden Dawn’s Australian representative Ignatius Gavrilidis confirmed to the “Guardian Australia” that VTE was indeed affiliated with the controversial Greek political party.

But Gavrilidis said that the money raised by VTE’s fundraising efforts only went towards buying food for the needy. “We buy the food direct from the producers and Golden Dawn takes care of delivery of the goods … We use their labour, they hand out the food where it’s appropriate,” he said.

“They [the recipients] are required to hold citizenship. As long as they hold citizenship, it gets distributed to them,” he added. The charity organization is not registered with federal or state charity regulators.

“Since the crackdown, the party has increasingly turned to its overseas branches to help deliver aid and build support among the Greek population,” Gavrilidis said.

“The [Greek] government has virtually dried up the party financially; they’ve stopped any funding, any entitlements they get as a party,” he continued. “So to continue to help those in need, they are reaching out to those beyond their borders.”

Gavrilidis said that VTE was established in November 2013 by members of the Greek community not associated with Golden Dawn. “But these individuals failed to attract support. I offered my assistance, and they were more than happy to get it off the ground,” he said.