Corruption pervades public real estate
The investigation of the Hellenic Police into an assault case in early June in Maroussi, northern Athens, uncovered a corruption ring within the Hellenic Public Properties Co (HPPC), which manages and develops private real estate assets of the Greek state.
The victim of the hammer attack on the morning of June 3 was a 47-year-old man who works as a short-term leasing manager at HPPC.
The case was initially investigated by the Maroussi Police Station and then by the police’s racketeering department.
The three persons listed as defendants are a 19-year-old, who is alleged to be the person who hit the victim, and two HPPC executives, who are accused of bribery. They were not arrested, with police submitting the case file to the prosecutor.
Apart from the recent beating in Maroussi, two more violent incidents are allegedly linked to corruption within the Public Real Estate Company, but they have not been included in the case file.
The first occurred in 2021 on the Lycabettus ring road, with the driver of the then head of HPPC being hit in the head with an iron bar.
The second incident occurred in the autumn of 2023, when the company’s financial director was targeted.
Tellingly, in early June, a few hours after the violent attack outside his house in Maroussi, the head of short-term rentals at HPPC told investigating police officers that he had handled three problematic leasing cases.
One was related to a property on the island of Zakynthos and the other two to outdoor parking lots in Palaio Faliro and Maroussi in Athens.
The investigations revealed that two former managers of short-term property leases, both aged 49, were managing public property at will, granting it to day workers and reaping huge financial benefits.
Moreover, in several cases of short-term leases no invoices had been issued, with the estimated loss of profits for HPPC estimated at 402,500 euros.
