‘Mykonos Mafia’: How Mitsotakis’ government failed to fight corruption

A striking article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, entitled “The Mafia of Mykonos”, details how the Mitsotakis government is managing to tackle the organised crime plaguing the island, particularly in the construction and land use sectors on the hugely popular holiday island of the Cyclades.

The article, captioned by Michael Martens, accuses the Greek government of failing to tackle corruption on the iconic island, which The Guardian has dubbed “Europe’s most popular party island”.

The Mykonos mafia: how the government of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is failing to tackle corruption on what is “Europe’s most famous party island”, as the Guardian once called it. photo.twitter.com/5mmEmqIVHA

— Michael Martens (@Andric1961) August 23, 2024

Similarly, an investigative series that began in 2023 in.gr and focused on the “construction mafia” on Mykonos presented documents revealing serious building violations on the jet-set island.

Anyone who gets involved with the ‘construction mafia’ is in danger

“Outside the high season, when tourists line up like sardines to visit sights that no longer exist because of them (the construction mafia), Mykonos is a magical place. But behind the Instagram facades there is a construction mafia that is spreading across the entire island, without any regard for victims. And woe to the flood for those who stand in its way,” the article in the German newspaper emphasizes, referring to two cases that have recently attracted particular attention.

The first concerns archaeologist Manolis Psarros, whose case, FAZ points out, revolves around a constant theme when stones that form artifacts, along with fragments and other historical relics, are discovered during construction works. This happens in almost every foundation ceremony in some regions of Greece. “It is not only the companies that have been involved in the construction of the still unfinished Thessaloniki metro for almost two decades that could sing a hymn to this,” the article characteristically notes.

Psarros was nearly beaten to death last year in northern Athens by two assailants who then fled. He had come face to face with the “Mykonos construction mafia” and had filed complaints of illegal construction. A civil servant like Psarros, who can go to court to block investment or at least cause costly delays, clearly stands in the way of some. His case shocked the country and called into question the Mitsotakis government’s promise to strengthen law and order.

Special investigators were sent to the island and what emerged was a network of corrupt contractors, club owners, hoteliers, motel owners, local politicians and police officers, all “with excellent connections to corrupt associates in the centers of power in Athens.”

A few weeks ago, a crime even shed more light on the archaeologist’s case. Surveyor Panagiotis Stathis, who had worked on Mykonos for decades, was shot dead in the Psychiko district of Athens by an assailant who also fled.

Up to 30K per square meter

“The background to the alleged contract killing is not entirely known, but one thing is clear: a lot of money is circulating on Mykonos. Dozens of five-star hotels on an island with fewer inhabitants than Husum bear witness to the summer rush of wealthy clients from all over the world, who come to the island with direct flights from Dubai, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Doha, among others. Although there are hundreds of hotels on the island, new properties are constantly being added, FAZ reports.

The article adds that this year, news spread of a €200 million investment in Mykonos by Soutrock Property Co., a subsidiary of Germany’s Otto Group. The investment reportedly includes a new luxury complex of almost 200,000 square meters. Moreover, nowhere in Greece are second home prices higher than in the Cyclades, FAZ points out. In Mykonos, up to €7,000 per square meter is paid for such “noble” retreats, while prices of over €30,000 per square meter have even been reported for some of the island’s best locations.

Mitsotakis’ empty promises

A common side effect of such transactions is that they occur at the margins of, or even outside, legal limits.

“We will impose legality on Mykonos. We are committed to uprooting the criminal networks that believe they hold the fate of this beautiful island in their hands,” Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed in his weekly message last July – commitments that once again turned out to be “empty words” from his government.

The loophole

The FAZ investigation report explains how the “Mykonos mafia” is abusing “a law that stipulates that all buildings illegally constructed in Greece before July 2011 can be retroactively ‘legalized’ by paying fines, which are not very high. And the construction dates of many buildings built in Mykonos long after 2011 are systematically falsified in order to abuse this law. This is easily proven with the images taken by the Greek Air Force or Google Maps – if anyone wants to prove it, of course.”

For buildings built before 1982, the fines are considerably lower.

On Mykonos, buildings that were built long after 2011 were therefore already “systematically” mentioned in the archives. The town squares where buildings were supposed to have stood before 2011 were then left unused for years, FAZ explains. However, uncontrolled real estate development also has consequences for tourists: the island’s infrastructure cannot always cope with this “turbo-driven development”. For example, the sewage system on Mykonos has been overloaded several times during the high season. At times, streams of raw sewage flowed through wells and “provided jetsetters with an unforgettable holiday experience…

At the same time, Panormos remains an occupied beach

One of the areas of Mykonos that was widely discussed last year was Panormos, where large-scale illegal construction around the Principote club was revealed. The case had been held up as a typical example of the problem with Mykonos, while the government, in the person of the Prime Minister himself, used it as an example of the government’s determination to uphold legality. And indeed, after the uproar, the company that owned the club demolished the illegal constructions on the beach – and this year it is back up and running.

However, this did not mean that the beach was freed up and accessible again. In fact, the company still not only occupies a significant part of the beach, but also controls access to the rest of the supposedly free beach, since the only way to get there is through the company premises.

The almost completely ‘occupied’ beach of Panormos this year.

However, if you want to walk through the club, you will be met by security guards who will not let you through. In addition, the noise pollution from loud music makes the situation unbearable for those who are unfortunate enough to live nearby. This means that the government’s promises to tackle Mykonos’s urban planning violations have largely remained empty words.