Athens Urban Planning Corruption Probe Implicates Prosecutor's Son

An investigation into a corruption ring within Athens' urban planning departments has uncovered contacts and arrangements extending beyond the core group of arrested officials. The case file, as reported by "Efsyn," includes lawyer Evangelos Doyiakos, son of former Supreme Court prosecutor Isidoros Doyiakos, among those implicated. Doyiakos is alleged to have pursued a favorable ruling on an illegal construction case concerning a relative's property. He reportedly communicated with the alleged ringleader of the scheme, who is also the brother-in-law of resigned Secretary-General Efthymios Bakoyannis.

The illegal construction involved a property that was the subject of a legal dispute between two private individuals. Doyiakos's father-in-law was involved in this dispute, and Doyiakos took on the legal representation. Recorded phone calls reveal Doyiakos's communications with the arrested official and a member of the Urban Planning and Disputes Council, aimed at securing favorable treatment. The primary issue, according to the recorded conversations, was that the case file did not favor the applicant's side.

Newspaper sources indicate that an attempt was made to alter the handling of the case by modifying the technical description of the illegal construction. The property would allegedly be classified under Category 3, which, according to the case file, would allow the initial inspection to be annulled and the file to be re-examined. In another recorded conversation, the arrested official speaks with a member of the Urban Planning and Disputes Council, stating that "Doyiakos has taken over the objection... he is a man very close to me."

The case file suggests that the final opinion was favorable to Doyiakos's side. In a conversation with the arrested official, Doyiakos reportedly expressed his thanks for the involvement. Responding to the "Efsyn" report, Doyiakos told the newspaper that his phone conversation with an official from the relevant urban planning department concerned a "completely legal procedure" he followed to legalize a minor urban planning violation on a property belonging to his wife's family. He stressed that it had "absolutely no relation to the investigated offenses."