Galery

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Summer is the season of holidays, but also of fires and as it turns out firefighters are not ready to combat disasters and Greek taxpayers pay dearly for its support.

Prosecutor authorities have focused their attention on a bomb-folder with unprofitable contracts for the Greek state made in the name of fire safety and relating to the "wrongfully" purchased helicopters for the firefighting service. 

Several months after the indictments against former Chief Secretary of the Ministry of Public Order Grigoris Tasoulas, chief of the fire service Stelios Stefanidis and 23 other senior military officers in the case of inflated prices and technical maintenance of helicopters in 2006-2010, harmed the Greek state with nearly 10 million euros, deputy prosecutor of the Athens Court Antonis Elefterianos undertook a preliminary investigation of new offenses to the detriment of public interest. 

Strong "weapon" in the hands of the prosecutor is the appeal-report of a Lieutenant, deposited in the Prosecution of Cassation, which is directed against the head of the fire service and all other seniors and it concerns the waste of public money, which continues to take place under the nose of the Minister of Citizen Protection, Christos Papoutsis. 

From the data revealed today by zougla.gr, we can see a 'crazy' waste of public money, provided that the helicopters of the fire department are grounded and their engines are abroad, the Greek taxpayer is asked to pay hundreds of thousands of Euros, even for the mobile phones and food of the helicopter crews, although such a thing is not foreseen in the respective notices! 

Foul #1: The helicopters could have been kept for free but it was chosen to pay! 

The story with the incredible financial arbitrariness, and especially in peroid of unprecedented austerity, as mentioned in the complaint-report begins with the fate of 5 private helicopters owned by the fire service. Those are the three BK-117 and two Super Puma, which cost the country nearly 45 million Euros, and today they are grounded due to insufficient technical support. 

The tragicomic in this case based on the data submitted by the prosecutor, is that the engines of these helicopters were sent (after the approval of the management) without foreign tender, and the recovery cost of their damages is now estimated at 1.5 million Euros. 

The result is that the five helicopters remained on the ground and few months ago the management of the fire service was faced with the dilemma where to “hide” them. Here start the unexpected events, because while there was an offer for their free storage, the management decided to finally spend money from the Treasury for their preservation, and happened bypassing the decision of Minister Papoutsis! 

Although from February 17, 2011 a written report of the "Air resources and finance" to the management of the fire service, and a decision of the Minister of Citizens’s Protection stated that the helicopters should be moved without state expenditure to the base of “Aeroservices” company, still the management committee decided to award the job without a tender  to “Greek Air Airservices ltd" for 25,000 Euros! 

Foul #2: Unfavorable contracts are extended. 900,000 Euros costs only the illegal food and accommodation of the staff! 

The prosecutor has also focused on the extension of the 4 contracts for the 12 rented helicopters, which are expected to cost about 20 million Euros. Three of the contracts were signed by the accused former chief secretary of the Ministry of Public Order Grigoris Tasoulas and the Deputy Minister of Citizen’s Protection Manolis Otonas. According to the complaint-report, they contain very unfavorable terms for the Greek state. 

Typical is that Greek taxpayers will be asked to pay 808,725 euros to feed the crews of the 12 helicopters, during their three stays in the country, although in the relevant notice stated that these costs are borne by the contracting company. 

The same goes, of course, for the phone bills of the staff, which will cost 264,980 euros, and the relocation of the helicopters, which will reach 660,000 euros. Small detail: According to the notices and the description of the tenders, these costs should not be granted by the Treasury but by the companies themselves! 

Experimental helicopters were rented for combating forest fires! 

One of the noteworthy moments in the case are the funds disbursed by the Treasury in the two previous years (2009 and 2010) for renting a helicopter, which could not be used in fighting forest fires! 

This is the heavyweight helicopter S-64 with registration number 218 Ν ΑC. The official documents provided by zougla.gr show that the helicopter is experimental and therefore cannot be used in extinguishing forest fires. Greece, of course, had used it, as it becomes clear from a decision signed by Deputy Minister for Citizen’s Protection Manolis Otonas and uploaded online on November 19, 2010.