With restrictive conditions and financial guarantees of up to 60,000 euros they left free, after their confession to the interrogator, the 11 defendants who were arrested by the “corruptible” of EL.AS. for bribery – bribery centered on the Kilkis Transport and Communications Directorate. Among them are three employees of the specific Directorate, dispatchers and an engineer.

After a marathon process that ended late on Sunday night, the investigator and the prosecutor decided to release all those involved – as the case may be – under the conditions of a curfew, appearing at a police station and paying bail. The three employees who – among others – were criminally prosecuted for bribery were given guarantees of 20,000 and 60,000 euros, while the guarantees for those prosecuted for criminal bribery ranged from 4,000 to 5,000 euros.

As announced by EL.AS., the accused employees of the Directorate of Transport and Communications are charged with the following:

– they served with priority (“fast track”) the processors in relation to the rest of the citizens when settling their clients’ cases (e.g. issuance of traffic permits, transfers, etc.), receiving corresponding sums of money and bypassing the legal procedure ,

– issued specific license plates with easy or specific numbering (eg date of birth, year of founding of favorite team, pattern such as “mirror” number 1991),

– they proceeded to embezzle license plates, which were then granted to private operators, without having previously issued the corresponding licenses.

From the research so far 116 cases of trailer license issuance, 64 cases of priority service, 60 cases of use of the engineer’s stamp, 28 cases of misappropriation of license plates, 13 cases of issuing license plates with easy numbering and 8 cases of issuance of license plates with forged supporting documents and obtaining a protocol number have been identified.

The individual monetary benefits received by two of the accused employees ranged from 5 to 150 euros on a case-by-case basis for issues such as priority overtaking, the provision of license plates with easy numbering or the issuance of driving licenses with forged supporting documents, as stated in the case file. However, in the case of their co-accused supervisor, the sums were set at 200 euros for the issuance of a trailer vehicle license and 1,000 euros for securing a protocol with a date prior to the deadline for submitting supporting documents.

Apologizing themselves, they denied the accusations, stressing that they did not take actions contrary to their duties, denying that they received benefits.

According to information, the investigations of EL.AS. they are expected to be extended to other Transport Directorates in prefectures of Central Macedonia.