What is mentioned in the case file concerning the corruption case at the Rhodes Town Planning Department is beyond imagination, as it “shows” the way the members of the “network” operated, the categories of “services,” the cost of each one, as well as the revealing dialogues exchanged among the arrested individuals in order to carry out all of the above!

The extensive case file includes, in addition to the 8 arrested, another 21 individuals who are accused of “bribing an employee for an act contrary to their duties.”

The 21 individuals are accused of non-flaggable offenses, which is why they were not arrested, but it is certain that they will be called to give explanations regarding the case.

As is known, one of the arrested, the head of the Department, was released the night before last as the charge of being part of a criminal organization was not substantiated against him, and the other charges he faces are not part of the flagrant offense process, according to his lawyers, Mr. Dimitris Dimitriadis and Mr. Akis Dimitriadis.

As for the other detainees, the Deputy Director of the Town Planning Department, two department heads, two employees of the department, the architect-engineer, and the civil engineer, were escorted by a strong police force consisting of the officers from the Internal Affairs of the Greek Police with the assistance of the Rhodian Crime Investigation and Detection Unit and were brought to the Prosecutor of First Instance in Rhodes.

The detainees were accompanied by their lawyers, including Mr. Stelios Kourtzi, Michalis Kandidenos, Michalis Kokkinos, Manolis Koutsoukos, Stelios Alexandris, Kostas Diakoni, Akis Dimitriadis, Dimitris Dimitriadis, Polyxeni Chatzigianni, Maria Krikopoulou, Vasilis Mpei, Marilena Avdi, and Michalis Kountouris.

In total, 13 criminal charges were filed against the involved parties, and they were subsequently referred for investigation, where they requested and were granted a deadline until next Monday. Until then, their detention continues.

The criminal charges are as follows:

1. Membership in a criminal organization.
2. Continued forgery, where the total benefit exceeds 120,000 euros.
3. Embezzlement of documents by an employee, continued, where the intended total benefit exceeds 120,000 euros.
4. Bribery of an employee as a profession, where the act or omission contradicts the employee’s duties, continued.
5. Direct complicity in bribery of an employee as a profession, where the act or omission contradicts the employee’s duties, continued.
6. Bribery of an employee, where the act or omission contradicts the employee’s duties, continued.
7. Influence peddling – Intermediaries, continued.
8. False certification, falsification, continued, where the intended total benefit exceeds 120,000 euros.
9. Direct complicity in false certification, falsification, continued, where the intended total benefit exceeds 120,000 euros.
10. Violation of duty, continued.
11. Direct complicity in violation of duty, continued.
12. Illegal possession of firearms.
13. Violation of the obligation to declare a monument, continued.

Fake Permits with the Signature of… a Retired Person
The investigation into the case, according to the case file, began in mid-June 2024 by the “Anti-Corruption” department of the Greek Police following a complaint that hoteliers – big businessmen in Rhodes, who could not issue building permits either because they were not allowed due to building coefficients or because they did not meet legal requirements – were contacting the architect engineer.

The latter would inform the employees of the Town Planning Department, who would then search in the Service’s archive for inactive permit protocols from previous years that had been lawfully issued to third parties, but which had not been used.

Then, they either used those protocols or intervened in them with other numbers, e.g., 601, and placed 601.

What is notable is that these illegal permits indicated that the studies had been conducted by a civil engineer, who, according to the complaint, was an elderly retired person with dementia.

Subsequently, the fake permit would list false numbers and engineering fees, put the Town Planning Department’s stamp from previous years, and use the names of employees who had retired but worked during the period when the inactive permit was issued that would be used. For this “job,” the cost ranged from 20,000 to 50,000 euros.