“It was a complex system that involved not only the Municipality of Athens, but also the employees of the Ministry of Culture, employees of the region, employees and other services” indicated its general secretary Municipality of AthensVassilis Bokos in his remarks about it the question regarding the dismantling of a criminal organization that ripped off shoppers and city employees participated.
As he usually said, speaking to ERT: “Unfortunately, this is a sad story that comes from the past, which we are called to face. Announcements have already been made by the body of the Internal Service of Inspectors of the Ministry for the Protection of Citizens, and also by the Municipality.
“Unfortunately, the phenomena of corruption should not be treated as natural phenomena in local government, it is not a storm, it is not an earthquake. We are not prepared for any compromise and any tolerance regarding such phenomena, he said afterwards.
In addition, he emphasized that “not all the individuals belong to the Municipality of Athens, however, there was an employee of the Planning of the City of Athens and a head of the Municipal Police of the municipality of Athens, who are allegedly involved in a ring that it looks like it has many tentacles and has been operating for a long time.”
How did the circuit work?
Regarding the activity of the ring, he said “in collaboration with the various services, not only of the Municipality of Athens, they attended several stores, selling, let’s say, protection. They were stores that were interested in health .However, there were also other types of shops in the center of Athens. They wanted money to silence the complaints, so that there would be no fines and mainly in the famous issue of the bank seats in too much and you know there was a rest after the pandemic, so this was a point that these circuits got pressure to meet”.
We are, as you said, six months in the municipal government and we are trying to identify such sources of evil spirit to find other ways to deal with it, apart from the formal procedures alone.
Finally, regarding the procedures being developed, he said: “This development is open, at the moment we are in the preliminary investigation stage, as far as I know there are possibilities that there are other employees. It was a complex system that involved not only the Municipality of Athens, but also the employees of the Ministry of Culture, the employees of the area, employees and other services, because they are involved with the shops in the center that also go through the Ministry. What I want to clarify is that there is no disposition, no mercy, I would say, in the event that the employees are found guilty after the judicial crisis, there is no tolerance for such phenomena”.