This month’s arrests of several individuals – including Athens municipal employees – on charges of blackmailing business owners by threatening to file various violations has spilled over into the Attica regional government, with 148 health department employees cashiered on Monday and transferred to other positions.
The case involving the Athens municipality involves two private individuals allegedly “shaking down” café, restaurant and club owners in the Greek capital center in exchange for keeping municipal employees away or writing off previous violations. The latter mostly involved outdoor tables and seating.
In the case of the regional government – Attica is the prefecture that hosts the greater Athens-Piraeus area – 12 of its employees have been arrested after the initial investigation into the municipality-centered “protection racket” was expanded. The alleged “dirty dozen” in this case were suspended.
The 148 employees transferred out of the health department were not fired, as they enjoy civil service tenure that makes firing public sector employees in Greece increasingly difficult. All seven directors of the regional health services were also changed.
In one case showcased by local media, recorded audio purportedly has one of the implicated civilians telling a regional government health inspector to issue a violation against a pilates/yoga studio in the central Athens district of Petralona. When the latter asked on what justification, the first advised to cite an anonymous email complaint charging unsanitary conditions in the studio’s lavatories.
