The justice system is allowing many corrupt public servants to go unpunished, Greece’s general inspector of public administration, Leandros Rakintzis, said yesterday as he presented his annual report on graft in the system.

“The courts are often incapable of enforcing the law, especially in the case of financial crimes,” said Rakintzis, citing systematic abuse of the statute of limitations.

He gave the example of an employee at the Athens Prefecture transport department who was cleared 13 times of issuing forged driving permits. Rakintzis said he had to intervene before the employee was handed an 18-month jail sentence.

“The criminal justice system does not punish employees easily and its slow pace makes the state appear untrustworthy,” said Rakintzis. The inspector said that he had referred 575 cases to the prosecutor in the last year.