Greek tycoon wines and dines MPs in bid to return Elgin Marbles to Athens

‘If we have enough perception, enough support of a certain scale, if we have enough people to believe in it, we have to go through Parliament’

A GREEK magnate is investing millions to fly British MPs to Athens and lobby them to overturn UK law and allow the return of the Elgin Marbles.

John Lefas, founder of Ingenia Polymers, has pledged his personal fortune to establish the Parthenon Project, a scheme aiming to recruit MPs willing to introduce and support a new “Elgin Marbles Act” that will allow the return of ancient artworks.

Mr Lefas has hired Pagefield, a London PR firm, to pursue this multi-million-pound campaign of persuasion.

Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph in Athens, Mr Lefas said: “If we have enough perception, enough support of a certain scale, if we have enough people to believe in it, we have to go through Parliament.”

Lord Vaizey, a former Conservative culture minister, has already taken the trip, and more contacts are understood to have been made in Parliament, where members of the Commons and Lords are being approached.

Lord Vaizey said: “I was in Athens recently with the Parthenon Project to understand more about their vision for a ‘win-win’ solution and I fully support their approach. Being pragmatic and forward-looking is the only way to resolve such a complicated dispute. Seeing the Acropolis Museum and understanding more about the other unique artefacts that could come to London as part of the cultural exchange has really strengthened my view that a deal is within reach.”

Mr Lefas has tabled a possible investment of £10million to fund the new softpower programme. It aims to make contacts in Westminster, then fly Peers and MPs to Greece to be wined, dined and persuaded to the cause with a crash course in Lord Elgin’s alleged theft of the marbles, and the merits of displaying ancient Athenian artworks in Athens itself.

Current legislation prevents the sculptures leaving the British Museum, creating a legal impasse that has frustrated Greece’s many calls for their repatriation.

Mr Lefas hopes that either a government or private member’s bill could be introduced, and that with enough MPs persuaded of the Greek cause, a bill might be voted through amending legislation.

“We have a lot of pull in the UK,” Mr Lefas said. “A lot of pull has to transform into political energy. You have to get enough ‘ oomph’ to make things happen. I hope it’s going to happen fast.”

The plan is understood to have the blessing – but not the direct backing – of Greek ministers.

Thessaloniki-born Mr Lefas, 71, founded multi-national plastics producer Ingenia Polymers, which has an annual revenue of about $100 million (£90 million) – and has spent much of his life in Canada, the US and the UK.

The Anglophile businessman began researching the repatriation of the Marbles as a way to provide a morale boost for his country after the 2009 financial crisis.

The British Museum Act 1963 prevents ownership of the 2,500-year-old sculptures, or any other artefacts, being transferred from the museum to another party.

Any loan deal for artworks would involve accepting the UK’s legal claim to the Marbles, which Greek ministers have always maintained were stolen by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century. This has created a stalemate in the campaign for their return, and Greek government sources have told The Telegraph that removing the impasse of UK legislation by repealing or altering the British Museum Act is the only way the Elgin Marbles can be repatriated.

The UK Government has maintained that the Elgin Marbles are a matter for the British Museum’s trustees, while the museum insists it is bound by law to retain any artefacts in its collection.

While government intervention would be needed to change this, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has consistently said that such a legislative change is not being considered, although Mr Lefas hopes his unusual foray into politics could prove fruitful. Should the Marbles be returned, Greece is willing to loan priceless artefacts from its National Archaeological Museum to fill the space vacated.

Mr Lefas said: “I’m like the matchmaker in the Fiddler on the Roof, the Jewish lady saying ‘this boy is good, this girl is good’. I’ve become a matchmaker. I love Greece, and I love Britain, and I wish the best for them both. I want to bring them together with a winwin proposition.

“There is a simple sense of justice. If I come to your house and there’s a Ming Dynasty vase, and I drop it and break it, I’m not going to take two pieces and go home, I’m going to try and put it together for you.

“It would improve the sentiments between Britain and Greece: Navarino, liberation, the First World War, the Second World War, Gallipoli, Crete. There are so many ties, you cannot let this small thing mar this relationship.”

The businessman hopes his most ambitious deal will be successful soon, telling The Telegraph: “You have to be a dreamer sometimes. But I’m in business – I like to achieve my dreams. I’m getting old, I don’t even buy green bananas. It’s called the Parthenon Project, and a project has a start and finish.

“I want to see this finished as soon as possible.”