Three employees of the Ministry of Culture were among those involved in the activities of a ring that provided protection to shopkeepers and owners of hotels and properties for a hefty fee, which was dismantled after an investigation and a coordinated operation by the Internal Affairs Service of the Security Corps. One of them even allegedly played a key role in the operation of the organization, was one of its most highly paid members and is among the 14 people, employees of the Municipality of Athens, the Region of Attica and private individuals, who have been arrested, detained and face charges of joining a criminal organization and a host of other offenses.

According to information from protothema.gr, this is a 63-year-old architect – engineer, an employee of the Service of Modern Monuments and Technical Works of Attica, Eastern Central Greece and Cyclades, who held a high-ranking position. Given that the operational objectives of her service are the coordination, supervision and harmonization of projects and activities concerning the newer monuments, i.e. those later than 1830, several clients of the criminal organization “crossed” with her responsibilities.

It was mainly about owners of shops under construction, hotels and private houses who, in order to carry out construction work, were required to obtain a special permit from the 63-year-old woman’s office. Some cases were even more complex as the owner’s request had to be considered by the relevant councils, central or local, in which she often participated as a rapporteur.

Being in constant communication with the woman who was allegedly the manager of the scheme and following her explicit instructions, the Ministry of Culture official prepared fake certificates with her department’s stamp and attempted to influence the members of the councils which were considering the requests of their clients in order to secure the necessary permission for them to start work on their buildings.

Indeed, as the tariff of protection for these owners was quite high and given the high risk involved in her illegal activity, the 63-year-old was one of the best paid members of the organisation with her earnings estimated at between €6,000 and €10,000 for each case.

She also worked in Mykonos

It is worth noting that among the cases in which this employee of the Ministry of Culture was involved was the construction of a new, luxury store with clothes and accessories of a famous foreign designer in Chora of Mykonos, which was recently inaugurated. For securing the necessary documents relating to this store and another store under construction in Athens, on Ermou Street, she allegedly received a fee of 6,000 euros, which, according to communications in the hands of the authorities, she received in her office from the brother of the leader of the gang, who had assumed the role of collector – cashier.

Thus, the said employee of the Ministry of Culture, who was arrested under the procedure of auto-custody, is accused of membership in a criminal organization and for bribery of an employee, false certification, violation of official secrecy and breach of duty committed professionally and repeatedly. In addition, she faces a charge of violating the “Immigration Code,” which is likely related to a Georgia Authorities passport in the name of a 53-year-old Georgian woman with a 10-year validity period, which was seized during a search of her home.

The accomplices

Meanwhile, the second list of nine people who were not members of the criminal organisation but assisted, in at least one case, its illegal activities, includes two more employees of the Ministry of Culture.

They are a 55-year-old archaeologist and a 54-year-old worker, both trade unionists, who are facing charges of bribery of an employee, breach of official secrecy and breach of duty.

Since, as the available evidence shows, their participation in the ring was not permanent, they were not arrested in the course of the auto-custodial procedure but will be summoned for testimony to the competent authorities in the coming days.