Work at the out-of-town house of Environment and Public Works Minister Giorgos Souflias has been suspended because a town-planning office ruled it did not have the relevant construction permit, Kathi-merini learnt yesterday.

The minister wrote to the town-planning office in Markopoulo, east of Athens, to do everything it should to enforce the law. He also said he would be taking legal action against civil engineer Nikos Metaxas who had taken on the building project.

Metaxas told Kathimerini that he had been in charge of the construction and had failed to apply for a building permit to be renewed. Metaxas added that Souflias had not been aware that the law had been breached.

Souflias and his wife bought the plot of land near Anavyssos, southeast of Athens, in 1997 and obtained a permit to build two small properties on the plot.

However, the construction plans changed so one larger property would replace the two smaller ones. The law stipulates that a specific permit be obtained for this alteration.