A violent attack on a 47-year-old ETAD employee in early June in Marousi revealed the activities of a criminal group involving two ETAD employees and a man already in prison.

The victim was attacked around 7:05 AM on June 3rd as he was leaving his home in Marousi. An assailant, with his facial features covered, approached him on foot and struck him violently on the back of the head with a hammer. Following the attack, the 47-year-old went to the emergency room at “KAT” hospital, where he was diagnosed with head trauma caused by a direct blow with a heavy object.

The thorough investigation by the Extortion Department of the Attica Security Directorate revealed that the motive behind the attack was related to illegal short-term rental agreements of public properties involving the ETAD employees. The investigation showed that the 47-year-old had dealt with such rental agreements, which had issues regarding both the return of properties after the lease period and the payment of the agreed rent.

These leases involved: a) a property on the island of Zakynthos, for which the lease period had expired, b) an outdoor parking lot in Palaio Faliro, for which the lease period had expired, but the lessee continued to exploit it, and c) an outdoor parking lot in Marousi, for which the lease period expired at the end of May but had unpaid dues.

Despite these apparent issues with the leases, the involved employees continued to provide them to the lessees without taking any action to protect ETAD’s interests.

The employee also informed the authorities that, according to verbal information from other colleagues, specific individuals (he mentioned the names of two men) were behind the companies leasing the outdoor parking lots. He added that during the time these leases were made, one of the involved employees, who had friendly relations with one of the two men, was responsible for short-term leases.

An internal audit was conducted, which confirmed insufficient management of short-term leases, an inability to fully implement the Open Competitive Procedure, and for the years 2022 and 2023, events were identified for which no invoices had been issued, and no revenues had been collected.

A notable aspect of the involved employees’ actions was the receipt of money from lessees in public places, handed over in envelopes and bags.

Due to the poor management of properties, a thorough inspection was also conducted by a Private Company, which provides auditing services among other things. From the analysis of records and the general inspection, a list of 34 events was identified, which estimated a loss of revenue totaling 402,500 euros.