However in the case of Greece, the controversial concessions of public wealth to ‘oligarchs, large corporations and investors’ had started way before the beginning of the crisis. Such is the case of Canadian Eldorado Gold's affiliate in Northern Greece, Hellas Gold who invested in Skouries, Stratoni and Olympiada.
 
95% of Hellas Gold belongs to Eldorado while 5% belongs to Aktor, a Greek construction company and member of the ELLAKTOR group, one of the country’s biggest industrial groups and a leader in construction, waste management, highways and the media.
 
Hellas Gold was founded in December 2003 with a share capital of just 60,000 euros. Three days later the Greek state sold to Hellas Gold the three mines for €11,000,000 and 26.400 hectares of mineral-rich concessions  without a tender. At the time, the company was controlled by one of Aktor’s main shareholders who later sold his stake to European Goldfields, a mining company.
 
According to an official inquiry by the European Commission, the sale of the mines was done “without any open, transparent and unconditional tendering procedure at a price which appears to be below the market value.” In 2011, the EU Commission finally ruled that Hellas Gold needs to repay around €15 million in illegal subsidies.
 
The initial sale did not provide a mining permit. The project, amid harsh criticism by environmental groups as well by subsequent ministers who refused to sign it off, received environmental approval in 2011 by George Papaconstantinou, originally the Minister of Economics of George Papandreou government and at the time Minister of Environment.
 
Skouries gold and copper mine is located in the middle of a virgin forest. The local community, except for those that work or hope to work in the mine, are in their majority opposed to the mining operations, alleging serious environmental consequences both for the forest and water resources but also for humans and other living beings in the area.
 
The Skouries case has been a flaming field of dispute: Critics of the project say that it could serve as a case-study of what investment looks like in financially downgraded countries.  Anti-mining activists have highlighted the midterm and longterm consequences to the local economy and the environment. On the other hand, government officials have been supportive of the mining operations, arguing that the mining project is an important jobs creator in a time when unemployment is skyrocketing and the country is in need of foreign investment to reboot its economy.
 
Rejecting a motion by members of the local community, the Council of State, Greece’s supreme administrative court, ruled in favor of the project. Thus development of the projects is continuing.
 
So does state-sponsored repression against those who oppose the project. Police presence in Skouries is strong; excessive use of force has been employed in numerous cases, including raids in people’s homes, arrests and detentions.

Following an arson attack on Hellas Gold's worksite at Skouries in February 2013 and a massive protest in the forest that led to clashes with the police, the police arrested and prosecuted 49 people. Anti-mining activists were subject to surveillance and wiretaps, including interception of phone calls with journalists. Those same activists were prosecuted on the grounds of setting up “a criminal organization”, the same legal argument used to prosecute en masse the leadership and the MPs of Golden Dawn, the neo-nazi party whose members are about to face trial for killings and other felonies.