A failure to ensure the proper functioning of the University of West Attica by the current Rector, Panagiotis Kaldis, is cited by six members of the institution’s Board of Directors in a letter to the Minister of Education, Sophia Zacharaki, published exclusively by protothema.gr.

Towards the person of the Rector has already filed a proposal of no confidence by these members while the Council of State is pending the hearing of the Council of State of the application for annulment, which he brought against the act of his termination, which means that until the publication of the relevant decision, he remains in his position, binding the Foundation with his actions or omissions.

As long as the hearing of the petition for annulment, which the Rector, Panagiotis Kaldis, has filed against the act of his dismissal, is pending before the Council of State, the majority of internal and external members of the West Attica University Board of Directors (PADA) remain with “tied hands”.

In a letter to the Minister of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports, Sofia Zacharaki, the six members of the PADA’s Board of Governors outline the reasons why the current Rector does not enjoy the confidence of the majority of the Board’s internal and external members. The signatories of the letter state in detail the reasons, which are related to serious malfunctions and irregularities in the performance of the administrative work by the Rector of the PADA.

It is also recalled that the same members have already filed a motion of no confidence against the Rector Panagiotis Kaldis, whom they denounce for committing unlawful acts and continuous omissions, which are done voluntarily on his part.

In more detail, according to the letter, the Rector engages in deliberate obstruction, inaccurate recording of the decisions of the body in minutes, which are then published or posted without the prior approval of the Board. They also speak of the failure to properly apply the basic rules of quorum and decision-making of the collective bodies of the administration as well as his unwillingness to ensure legal support to the members of the body.

The spearhead was the case of a tender procedure, which led to the purchase of a property worth around 8 million euros, with the aim of turning it into a Tourism Innovation Centre. According to the complaints, non-transparent procedures were followed. However, although a request was made to cancel the tender and reopen the tender, the request remained pending. The same was the case when the issue of the opinion of the PADA’s Legal Service regarding the cancellation was put on the table.

This not only undermines the ability of Board members to perform their duties within the scope of their responsibilities, but also raises the strong possibility of the loss of funding for the PADA due to the responsibility of Mr. Kaldis.

Equally opaque was the handling of the tender for the cleaning of the buildings of the University of West Attica. Although six of the nine members of the Board of Directors explicitly stated that they abstained from making a decision, the Rector continued as normal by posting on Transparency and distorted the content of the meeting.

Finally, the members of the SC who signed the letter to Ms. Zacharaki, argue that the Rector of the PADA systematically adopts an authoritarian attitude, through threats or indirect blackmail, which he launches towards the SC members with a permanent echo, referring them to judicial or disciplinary proceedings, thus creating a climate of intimidation but also attacking their independence in decision-making, which is contrary to the spirit of democracy that should govern the functioning of the collective body.

The letter

Honourable Minister,

Unfortunately, for a long time now, the functioning of the Governing Council (GC) of the University of West Attica has been irreparably compromised by unlawful acts and continuous deliberate omissions of the Rector of the University. As you already know, on 31.07.2024, six (6) members of the PADA’s Board of Directors, under article 14.3 of Law 4957/2022, filed, for several important reasons, a motion of no confidence against the Rector Panagiotis Kaldis. Our recourse to a motion of no confidence (as a last resort) was dictated by the continuous and systematic violation of Law 4957/2022 by Mr. Kaldi, as – among other things – he did not ensure the proper observance of procedures and the proper implementation of the decisions of the Board, he did not inform the institution in a timely and proper manner of his actions, he did not respond as required to the requests of the members of the Board, in short, he disparaged the Board both through his actions and generally through his public statements.

Of course, Mr. Kaldis, pending the hearing of the petition for annulment filed against the act of his dismissal, and until the publication of a final decision by the CoE, remains in the position of Rector of the PADA following the issuance of the decision of the CoE Suspension Committee of the CoE No. 141/2024.

With this report we inform you that under the continued presidency of Mr. Kaldis, serious dysfunctions and irregularities in the administration of the University of West Attica continue to exist and unfortunately intensify, while he does not enjoy the confidence of the majority of both internal and external members of the Board of Directors.

In particular, the operation of the Board continues to be systematically undermined by deliberate obstructions on the part of Mr. Kaldis, by inaccurate recording of the decisions of the Board in minutes which are published / posted without prior approval by the Board, by incorrect application of the basic rules of quorum and decision-making of the collective bodies of the administration, by his unwillingness to ensure legal support to the members of the Board. In short, by Mr Kaldi’s failure to ensure the proper functioning of the institution. The way in which Mr Kaldis performs his duties does not correspond to the role provided for by the legislature, with the result that the administrative stability, the operation and the reputation of the institution are affected. By way of indication, please allow us to bring the following issues to your attention:

As chairman of the institution, Mr. Kaldis continues to systematically refuse, even today, to place on the agenda items relating to critical decisions, even though they have been legally submitted by the members of the SC in accordance with the provisions of the law. The case of the tender procedure for the ‘Purchase of Property for the Centre for Innovation in Tourism’ is typical, in the context of which relevant issues were repeatedly submitted but never introduced for discussion. The last, from 26.07.2024 and 30.07.2024, requests from members of the SC still remain pending, which specifically related to (a) the cancellation of the tender and its reopening with a redefinition of the terms of the tender, or a request to the Ministry of Education, Religious Affairs and Sports for the reallocation of resources for the research and development of the University of West Attica, and (b) an opinion of the Legal Service of the PADA, where a lawyer of the NCC serves, regarding the issue of the cancellation of the tender. This practice delays important decisions, limits transparency and undermines the ability of the members of the SC to exercise their statutory powers, and poses a significant risk, under the clear responsibility of the Chairman, Mr. Kaldis, of any loss of funding for the PADA.

In addition, while out-of-court notices are sent to companies participating in tender procedures, Mr Kaldis, as chairman, does not ensure that a legal opinion on these out-of-court notices is provided prior to the discussion of the relevant issues at the SC meeting. As a result, the members of the SC feel exposed and pressured to take decisions in a particular direction.

Turning now to the regular functioning of the institution, the conduct of the meetings of the SC is characterized by inaccurate recording of minutes through selective recording of events and decisions, by posting of minutes on the WEB site without prior approval by members and by the absence of drafting of provisional minutes by the secretary. These practices, which depart from the existing legislation and from good practices in the operation of the collective bodies of the administration in general, undermine the transparency and credibility of the decision-making process and even go so far as to undermine the validity of those decisions.

They even go as far as to undermine even the validity of the decisions themselves.

They even go as far as to undermine the very validity of the decisions.
A particularly worrying, recent (since 14.11.2024), incident concerns the handling of the Electronic International Open Tender for the Cleaning of Buildings and Premises of the University of West Attica. Despite the express declaration of abstention of six (6) of the nine (9) members of the BoD from taking a decision on the B’ minutes of the tender, Mr. Kaldis proceeded to post minutes on the DIAGIA, in which he falsely depicted alleged responses by the Executive Director that were never provided during the meeting, while also showing the six (6) members of the BoD to have rejected the B’ Tender Minutes, causing the current cleaning contract to be terminated. The institution was left without cleaning services for two (2) days while dozens of employees were at risk of losing their jobs, which jeopardized Public Health and caused disruption to the academic community. Ultimately, the matter was settled (after our intervention) at an extraordinary meeting of the Board at which the continuation of cleaning services was approved, an issue on which the presiding officer, Mr. Kaldis, voted no.

It is worth noting that Mr. Kaldis’ management style has resulted in the loss of critical funds and grants for the Foundation. A typical example is the fact that Mr. Kaldis, both as Rector and as Acting Head, did not take care of the implementation of the project “ENHANCEMENT AND ENHANCEMENT OF CONNECTION PROCEDURES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF DYUTY OF ATTICA (PA.D.A.)”, within the framework of the Operational Programme “Public Sector Reform”, resulting in the issuance by the Ministry of National Economy and Finance of the relevant Decision of Revocation of the Decision of Act Inclusion No. 177934/27-11-2024 (ID: PSORXI-XYI) and the loss for the PA.D.A. of the corresponding project funds totalling 1.172.228,57 €. It should be noted that the above Revocation Decision states verbatim as a reason: “because all deadlines for the implementation of the approved physical and financial scope within the eligible timeframe of the NSRF 2014-2020 have passed without any action having been taken by the beneficiary”.
The administration of Mr. Kaldi has also violated critical deadlines provided for by Law 4957/2022. He has never submitted to the Board and the Senate the annual report on his activities as Rector of the Foundation, as explicitly stipulated in subsection k) of para. 1 of article 15 of the Law. 4957/2022, the approval of which is also necessarily part of the responsibilities of the BoD in accordance with subsection kth) of par. 1 of Article 14 of Law No. 495757, which is also obligatorily required to be included in the provisions of subparagraph (1) of Article 14 of Law No. 495757. 4957/2022. Also, the development plans of the faculties, although submitted by Deans within the prescribed time frame, have not been forwarded to the Board of Directors for approval due to the responsibility of Mr. Kaldis.

Furthermore, it has been repeatedly noted that threats and indirect blackmail have been issued to the members of the SC for referral to judicial or disciplinary proceedings, with the aim of creating a climate of intimidation and influencing the independence of the SC members in expressing their opinion, which is unacceptable and incompatible with the democratic principle and the proper functioning of a collective body. In addition, Mr. Kaldis recently referred a member of the BoD to the Disciplinary Board of Faculty Members. The reason for the referral relates to an alleged misconduct that, while its alleged commission seems to have started in the year 2020, i.e. under his previous rectorship, he had not taken any action to date.

The above practices undermine the functioning of the SA, impede the smooth functioning of the University and ultimately shake the confidence of the academic community in the administration of the institution.

We considered it our duty to compile and address this report to you so that you may obtain a thorough, comprehensive and complete picture of the situation at the PADA.
We remain at your disposal for more detailed information and data on what is mentioned in this report.

With our warmest wishes for a Happy and Creative New Year, with Health and Success in the important work you do!!!
With honor,
The members of the PADA Management Council
Athena Georgia Alexopoulou
Konstantinos Derdemeezis
Areti Lagiou
Efstathia Papageorgiou
Cleo Sguropoulou
George Sikianakis