At the centre of the investigation is the allegedly excessive and disproportionate cost of two projects awarded to private companies without a public tender, after the government cited increased migration flows linked to events in Evros at the time.
According to Kathimerini, the EPPO has opened an investigation into the management of EU funds for the construction of migrant reception and accommodation facilities in Greece. Two of the projects reportedly under scrutiny are the camps in Malakasa, north of Athens, and Sintiki, in the Serres region of northern Greece.
Politico, citing officials who spoke anonymously, reported that the cost of the projects is estimated to have been 15 times higher than comparable projects, reaching a total of €11.3m.
The project in Malakasa involved the expansion of the existing camp to accommodate 1,500 migrants transferred from the islands. According to Kathimerini, the contract was awarded in April 2020 to an Athens-based company. The initial contract for the construction and basic maintenance of the facility was worth €4.3m. The project was delivered after at least five extensions and after a supplementary contract worth €1.7m was signed.
The contract for the second facility, in Sintiki, was awarded in July 2020 to a Kavala-based engineering company, with an initial cost of €3.6m. Public records show that the construction received at least three extensions before completion, while the competent services had meanwhile proposed two supplementary contracts totalling €1.7m.
The construction of the camps in Malakasa and Serres is also mentioned in an internal document by an international organisation. Their cost is described as incomparable with any similar project built in Greece.
‘The prices are estimated at about double those of previous interventions and a general comparison of similar projects showed a difference between +5% and +288%. In most projects, it is +100%,’ the document states.
‘The EU has funded very similar actions that were completed in the same or a shorter period of time, with an amount 15 times lower than what was paid by the Ministry of Migration and Asylum.’
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