Criminal prosecution was brought by the Protodikon Polygyros prosecutor Halkidiki to the 21 arrested for participation in circuit of city planners who approved illegal actions and constructions for a fee.
Specifically, the 21 defendants as members of the Halkidiki urban planning ring are being prosecuted – as the case may be – for “directing and participating in a criminal organization, bribery and bribery of an employee, for direct complicity in bribery, money laundering and gang”.
As karfitsa.gr notes, regarding the remaining 86 people included in the case file, different prosecutions are expected.
The case was revealed after a months-long investigation by the Internal Affairs Service of the Hellenic Armed Forces, an operation that culminated in the previous 24 hours, when the “corrupt” police made the arrests.
At the heart of the operation were the urban planning of the Municipalities of Sithonia and Nea Propontida, Halkidiki, while more than 1 million were confiscated. euros, in cash. Of these, more than 600,000 euros were found among the accused employees.
Among the defendants are a former mayor, two senior officials of the town planning departments of the municipalities of Propontis and Sithonia, two members of the Department of Architectural Planning of the Region, engineers and private individuals.
In total, from the investigation so far, it has been established that the members of the ring, which operated for years with the same people, essentially consisted of three criminal organizations involved in at least 92 cases, for which illegitimate financial benefits were requested and received, earning more than 1 million euros with the city planners hiding the money in envelopes.
The members’ fee was from 250 to 1,000 euros for the so-called “fast stamp”, while the amounts they required for approval of illegal construction or energy (surveying, etc.) started from 1,000 – 20,000 euros.
The members of the ring also had a special vocabulary as they used the words “Drawings”, “Eggs”, “geese”, “paper”, “acres” for the amounts of money they received, and the word “Fingers” to determine the height of amount of money each employee receives.
The defendants requested and received a deadline to apologize on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 December.