Corruption in the Mykonos police? Pay no attention – these are your …

The police officers who “protected” illegal construction projects on the island of Mykonos were caught on large sums of bribes, but in their regard no criminal cases were initiated. I wonder why?

At the end of April, a team of members of the Internal Investigation Service of the Greek Police urgently went to Mykonos to check information about suspicious transactions carried out by members of the Mykonos Police Station. Although the ensuing investigation revealed serious signs of corruption the two police officers serving on the island have not yet been prosecuted by the judiciary and the General Police Department has not initiated disciplinary proceedings against the two uniformed officers.

The case began when the then-new head of the Mykonos police force, Nikos Bogatinis, asked for help from the internal investigation services to check some of the actions of his colleagues that aroused his suspicions. What exactly preceded this?

It all started with the fact that a policewoman went to hand over an order to stop work on a newly built building. She asked her colleague, who is responsible for enforcing planning laws, to send her the coordinates of the building so she can locate it. That was done. However, upon arrival, she found that two workers and a contractor had left the construction site. She reported this to the commander of the police station, who, in turn, informed the higher authorities.

In the meantime, a young police officer who was directing the performance managed to locate both the contractor and two workers working at a construction site not far from the site a few hours later. Initially, a search was made on the contractor’s mobile phone to find out if he had been in contact with a member of the National Police and, if so, with whom. It turned out that the contractor did exchange messages with the sergeant, who has been serving on the island as a seconded officer for several years.

According to local media reports, in one of the messages, the contractor allegedly asked the policeman the question: “Should I go to the site?”. To find out if a police check is planned at an illegal construction site. The sergeant allegedly replied that he was not on the island and “see you tomorrow”, after which the contractor warned his workers: “We will not go to the site until the policeman tells us about it.”

A search was carried out at the sergeant’s house, during which 20,000 euros in cash and a mobile phone were seized, which was sent to forensic laboratories for examination. An audit was completed in mid-May and reportedly indicated that a second officer, a sergeant, who is stationed on the island, was involved. According to the Internal Investigation Service, suspicious connections were found between him and the sergeant.

The investigation found that every time EL.AΣ. there were complaints about illegal work in this new building (there were six in total), there was communication between the two police officers, and in the end they warned the contractor to leave on time and avoid arrest. The materials of the case were transferred by the department of internal affairs to the prosecutor about two weeks ago.

To date, however, the prosecution authorities have not taken any further action, ie. did not initiate a criminal case and did not appoint a preliminary investigation in the department of internal affairs. As a result, in the absence of criminal prosecution, the National Police Headquarters did not initiate disciplinary control of the two suspected police officers. And if one of them asked for and received a 9-month parental leave, then the second continues to serve in the police in Mykonos.

PS A young female police officer from the annual rotation, who is sent to Mykonos from Athens, apparently did not understand that her colleagues on the Island of the Winds send the lion’s share of the bribes received upstairs. Therefore, no one touches them. But it’s not customary to talk about it…

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