Suspicious communications on Mykonos
Examination of sergeant’s phone suggests dubious contacts with contractor regarding inspections
The findings of an investigation into the case of a sergeant on the island of Mykonos suggest that he was in cahoots with a construction contractor, allegedly informing him about impending police checks.
The investigation was launched amid damning reports of illegal constructions on the popular holiday island and reports of mafia-style tactics following the brutal beating in Athens in early March of an archaeologist who was responsible for approving building permits on Mykonos.
The findings were submitted two days ago to the Internal Affairs Service and Kathimerini understands that text messages exchanged between the sergeant and the contractor were particularly revealing.
More specifically, in these messages the contractor allegedly asked the police officer whether he should go to work or not. The contractor would then notify his employees that “we won’t go unless the police officer tells us beforehand.”
The search of the sergeant’s mobile phone allegedly also identified suspicious communications with his colleagues.
As a result, it is also possible, if not certain, that the investigation will be widened among the police officers serving in the Mykonos Police Department.
The case in question began to unfold at the end of April. It was prompted by a police officer’s attempt to serve a document to stop work that was being carried out on a newly constructed building.
The policewoman asked her colleague, who is responsible for enforcing planning legislation, to send her the coordinates of the building so that she could locate it. When she arrived, however, she found that the two workers and the contractor had curiously enough left the building site before she got there. She alerted the commander of the Police Directorate, who in turn informed the Internal Affairs Service.
A few hours later both the contractor and the two workers were located in a house near the construction site. An initial search was conducted on the contractor’s mobile phone in order to determine whether he had been in contact with a member of the police, and if so, whom. The team of the Internal Affairs Service, which meanwhile went to Mykonos, found that the contractor was indeed exchanging messages with a police officer. However, it was not with the officer in charge of enforcing the planning laws, but with the police sergeant.
