Athens Metro executives charged over illegal hires
Eleven former board members of Attiko Metro, operator of the Athens underground system, have been accused of breach of faith for allegedly making politically motivated hirings in the runup to the 2009 elections.
According to the indictment, up to 220 illegal hirings were signed in 2008 and 2009, half of which took place between August 12 and September 4 of 2009.
On September 2, then Premier Costas Karamanlis called a snap election that was won by George Papandreou’s PASOK.
According to the prosecutor, the hirings caused an unjustified rise in wage costs and “reduced the company’s wealth” by 3.7 million euros.
Moreover, the jobs were not advertised in the press while a number of staff were recruited in spite of negative reviews by the hiring board.
