Greek held for East Asia worker scam

Victims expected 2004 contracts

Greece’s Security Police fraud squad, acting on a warrant from Interpol, has arrested a man wanted for allegedly defrauding large numbers of workers from Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand with false promises of jobs on major construction projects in Greece, including the Athens 2004 Olympics.

Attica Security Police said on Saturday they had arrested Ioannis Petropoulos, a 56-year-old economist, in Athens on Friday for allegedly tricking at least 1,263 Cambodians into signing contracts for jobs with Athens 2004 in exchange for deposits of $500 or $1,000 (depending on the job promised). Athens 2004 knew nothing of this.

Petropoulos and his team are believed to have gained $600,000 dollars from the scam. When the scams came to light, victims sought legal redress and there was much media criticism of Greece.

The Cambodian case has received considerable publicity over the past months, with international news agencies giving detailed accounts of the story. These included a Cambodian government promise in February to repay some 900 people, many of whom had borrowed heavily or given away their life savings. Others were paid by an employment company that had helped hire them. An adviser to the country’s senate chairman was fired for his alleged involvement in the affair.

Greek police said that Petropoulos (who also went by the names John Petris and John Patrick) and Maria Revelis had set up a company called JRN International Corp. in Canada between May and September last year. With at least another four Greeks whose identities are not yet known, they went to Cambodia where they promised locals work in Greece. They allegedly did the same in Thailand and Indonesia.

A month ago, Petropoulos set up a company in Athens (at 461 Acharnon Street) called Century 21. From the office and Petropoulos’s home, police confiscated company charters, stamps, the list of 1,263 Cambodians, work contracts, 500 medical examinations, bank books, credit cards, correspondence and leaflets of the JRN company.