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The "Property mafia" scandal, and in particular the protected forest area of 400 acres in Imitos, led to criminal charges, as shown by the investigation of journalist Petros Kousoulos from the online edition zougla.gr. The Prosecutor’s Office’s investigation in Athens discovered 10 major players in the appropriation attempt of forest land in Koropi and these were called to testify before an investigator. These include former close associates of businessman Viktoras Restis who accused them of having used fake contracts in order to present the forest lands as usable. The allegations include a fraud in connivance, moral responsibility in connivance and counterfeiting for criminal purposes amounting to more than 120,000 euro. Those charged include lawyer George Zafiropoulos, Constantinos Koutsoubelis (former economic Director of the holding), Dimitrios Papadopoulos (former counsellor in the holding), engineer Haralambos Staikos, who presented himself as the nephew of former Prime Minister George Souflias, broker Mikhalia Mistegnioti, her husband George Mistegniotis (who is a notary), and others.

Investigator on the case Christopoulos is also investigating the so-called "Property mafia", which involved engineers, notaries, priests, lawyers, etc. It is very likely that the case information will be sent to a higher court after a very important gap in the puzzle is fulfilled - who was (or were) involved in the embezzlement of public lands.

The investigation began after Restis pressed charges on 1 June 2011 against an existing criminal group operating within the holding company, which has caused damage amounting to 47 million euro and involved the company in legal proceedings. It is noted that, in June 2008, Koropi’s mortgage service refused the transfer of Mahitis property company. However, on 11 December 2008, the Court of First Instance gave the deal a "green light". And, on 20 May 2012, the acres of forest land in question were returned to the state after the representative of Mahitis signed a notarised waiver of the land on behalf of the company.

This is the second case in a short period associated with the "Property mafia". On Wednesday, the three-member Court of Appeal in Athens was expected to pass sentence to the alleged "brain" of the organisation - the engineer who was accused of sending a threatening letter and a bullet to the main witness in the case Dimitris Paraskevopoulos. The case was postponed and the defendant did not appear.

As for the forest area in Imitos, the Prosecutor’s Office’s investigation led to interesting conclusions about the modus operandi of the accused. The beginning of the case dates back to about 2005, when, according to the indictment, Papazafiropoulos, Koutsoubelis and Papadopoulos, together with broker Mistegnioti and engineer Staikos, represented the purchase of 400 acres as a golden opportunity, and told the investor that the area was being included in the housing construction plan. The private clinic Erasinio Hospital, which was built on the neighbouring area, was used as bait. It was noted that the same woman was the broker for the purchase of the land. In parallel, the conspirators claimed that the purchase was extremely profitable and there was no legal problem.

The contracts were prepared by a notary, who was the broker’s husband, and who, however, did not require declarations and certificates according to the forestry code. The inspection was made by the lawyer and topographic charts – by the engineer, while the over assessment was made by the economic director.

The purchase of forest land happened from July 2005 to March 2008, and the activities of the defendants started being gradually revealed after an internal investigation of the holding. The prosecution claims that the five people also presented two false certificates for the transfer of forest land to Koropi’s mortgage service which refused to transfer it. In this way they tried to prove that the transaction was in order.

The Vary case

Yet another curious case of transfer of state lands falls under the microscope of the prosecutor’s investigation. It is about 1,600 acres in Vari which, with the help of fake documents, were presented as in order, although they were included in Natura. The deal was organised by the same people who managed to "earn" 39.8 million euro.