Natura island under scrutiny
A state environment inspector has called for a re-examination of all paperwork related to the purchase and sale of tracts of land on Elafonisos, a small island off the southern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula, which is a European Union-protected area. The intervention of the general inspector for the environment, Panayiotis Merkos, comes in the wake of a series of allegations regarding the illegal sale and purchase of land around Simos beach, one of the island’s most pristine and popular sections of coastline. A prosecutor from nearby Gytheio has already launched an investigation into the legitimacy of the transactions. The community leader of Elafanosis, Haralambos Liaros, has in the past denied knowledge of the island being included in the EU’s Natura program. Yesterday Liaros told Skai Television that he had not signed any documents for the sale or purchase of land on Elafonisos.
