State property piracy unveiled
ETAD discovers that certain employees were leasing out its assets and pocketing the money
A few months ago, the management of the Hellenic Public Properties Company (ETAD) entrusted an employee with the supervision of its short-term leases sector, i.e. the rental of properties in its portfolio for short periods, as in the case of stadiums, events venues and other such assets. The previous head of the activity in question had already been removed, as there were suspicions that something was awry.
Before long, this employee, who took over the short-term rentals, was attacked by strangers and severely beaten. In the meantime, however, evidence had come to light of illegal leases of even entire stadiums, the proceeds of which allegedly went into the pockets of ring members and not into public coffers.
The new ETAD management, which took over in late 2023 with an order from Minister of National Economy and Finance Kostis Hatzidakis to proceed with the consolidation of the institution and the utilization of its property, filed a lawsuit a few days ago against all parties responsible for the violence against its executive.
However, evaluating the data which ETAD has already given to the authorities, one scenario emerges as the most prevalent: Circles of state employees or subcontracted managers of ETAD’s properties were illegally leasing properties, without the state ever collecting revenue. In one of the cases identified, an ETAD asset was rented for a large concert, which was also widely advertised via the social media. It is possible, therefore, that the attack was a retaliation to efforts to stop these practices.
ETAD, in the meantime, has been passing on the information it collects to the relevant agencies for further investigation.
These facts came to ETAD’s attention when it started, after decades of insufficient supervision, to clear up its real estate portfolio and checking the implementation of contracts and the condition of each asset. The suspicious leases were unveiled as part of this process, by a private consultant who took on part of the project.
