Six measures and 15 initiatives against it corruption announced the Mayor of Athensduring the 25th ordinary meeting of the municipal council.
In particular, when announcing the arrests and criminal prosecutions of its members extortion ring of shopkeepers and other professionals – companies within the administrative limits of the municipality of Athens were taken, including three municipal employees, as enumerated by Harry Doukasthe following measures and initiatives are launched:
Immediate measures taken:
On the same day (7.5.2024) the 3 municipal employees prosecuted were suspended. The two, for whom the investigator decided on temporary detention, were placed on self-imposed vacation on 18.07.2024.
Subsequently, on 25.7.2024, the Disciplinary Board issued a favorable opinion on placing the third municipal employee on vacation (potential vacation) to whom restrictive conditions were imposed by the investigator.
Citations were issued for the three employees involved based on the accusation in the criminal action.
The Municipality of Athens filed a representation in support of the prosecution against the detainees, after communicating with the competent special corruption investigator, and cooperated with the judicial authorities and the Internal Affairs Service of the Security Forces.
A municipal order was issued for a Sworn Administrative Examination of the case by the two general managers of the Municipality. In particular, an order was issued to the general director of Technical Services for the Urban Planning and Cleaning employees and an order was issued to the general director of Administration for the municipal police employee, in order to investigate the following:
– existing dysfunctions in the procedures followed by the organic units,
– the day-to-day operation of services and the management of works carried out, which may have created the conditions for the operation of the specific circuit,
– the investigation of any disciplinary responsibilities against other service employees, and the presentation of improvement proposals will also be requested.
The municipality of Athens has once again submitted to the Ministry of Internal Affairs its proposal to amend the law, on the one hand for the establishment of shops, on the other hand for the control and sanctioning procedures, for the occupation of common space.
Initiatives carried out:
In parallel with the EDE, the Internal Audit Department is ordered to exercise all the powers provided for in the organization of the internal service, in order to identify existing deficiencies in the flows and procedures, in accordance with the practical guide for the implementation of internal audits, arising from the National Principle of Transparency.
A notice of expression of interest is being prepared for the formation of the audit committee of Law 4,795/2021, to assist the work of the Internal Audit Unit and its strengthening.
A request is submitted to the competent Service “Pothen Esches” so that the municipality is informed of any non-response by its employees – who have been found responsible – to the submission of the relevant declaration during a period of 5 years and its full audit is requested.
A request is forwarded to the National Transparency Authority for approval of the creation of the position of integrity advisor, so that the position can then be filled in accordance with the provisions of Law 4,795/2021.
The necessary actions are promoted to establish a Risk Management Unit/Group, as defined in Law 5,013/2023.
The hitherto inactive memorandum of cooperation between the Municipality of Athens and the National Transparency Authority and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, on matters of preventing and combating corruption, planning training/information/awareness-raising actions for employees on the phenomena of corruption and appropriate official behavior, is being updated and activated.
The process for the preparation and approval by the Municipal Council of a special action program for the prevention and combating of corruption in the services of the Municipality of Athens begins, in accordance with the model of procedures corresponding to the phenomena of sexual harassment, and an internal Code of Ethics and Conduct for the municipal body and the legal entities supervised is drawn up.
A platform is created (connected to the municipality’s portal) for the electronic submission of complaints-claims that are brought to the attention of the person responsible for receiving and monitoring the complaints, in accordance with the provisions of Law 4,990/2022, with the digital format for storing all attachments to each complaint document, as they will then be “uploaded” to the municipality’s computer “cloud” and digital process files can also be created for a direct, easy and transparent process, without loss of documents and data.
The regulatory decision on the control of health stores (which is already in the consultation phase – sent electronically since Friday, 26.7.2024, to the addresses involved and to the legal service) is being changed, establishing the obligation for professionals to post at the entrance to the stores the QR Code, with the operating license, the exact space allocated to them for table seating and the respective plan that will have been drawn up by an engineer and adding penalties for specific violations of the arbitrary use of common space.
The municipal police information system and municipal police tablets are activated to the maximum to objectify all controls and not be limited to just executing calls, but to be interconnected with all the responsibilities of the municipal police, the Revenue Directorate for faster processing of cases and the municipal communities for complaints, violations, etc.
The rotating participation of municipal police in control levels from department to department has been implemented since September.
The citizen’s only remote contact with YDOM is promoted during the application submission process and processing – reception of your request.
A call for expressions of interest is being drawn up for municipal engineers, for the construction service staff and in particular the construction control department (TEC) in order to strengthen its staff, exploring the possibility of establishing special incentives.
It is proposed to KEDE to set up a project team to examine the relationship and cooperation of the YDOM of the municipalities with the newly created special inspectorate for the control and repression of illegal construction (law 5106/2024, part B, chap. A to F) and the current General Directorate of Housing Inspectors and Auditors of the Ministry of Environment and Energy, in order to clarify the framework of competences of the YDOM in relation to the State bodies, but also to the body of private building inspectors, through the TEE, and to examine the compatibility of the provisions with the so-called “multi-level governance” (N4106/2023) and their constitutionality.
The digital applications and electronic governance tools made available by the municipal body are further strengthened, in order to limit the need for citizens to be physically present in all its services.