Eight suspects arrested
The Financial Police said yesterday that they have smashed a racket of fraudsters believed to have swindled 360,000 euros from the Social Security Foundation (IKA) and the OAEE fund for freelancers and the self-employed by issuing forged diagnoses of worksite accidents with the help of doctors. Officers arrested eight suspected ring members, all ethnic Greeks from the former Soviet Union, while police are probing the suspected involvement of 17 doctors. According to the new head of the Financial Police, Manolis Ploumis, the ring has been operating since 2011. The eight detained suspects include a 45-yearold OAEE employee and a 53-year-old former insurance salesman who is believed to have been the leader of the racket.
Miners protest.
Miners from the Skouries gold mine held a protest outside the town hall in Arnaia, Halkidiki, yesterday. They accused the Municipality of Aristoteli of opposing the mine, which is operated by Canadian-owned Hellas Gold. The government recently revoked the license for the mine’s processing plan so it could review the circumstances under which it was awarded. The miners were unable to hold a meeting with Deputy Mayor Charalambos Lazaridis as he left the building when the protest began.
Guards released.
Six correctional officers who have been in pretrial custody for a year in connection with the death of Albanian inmate Ilie Kareli at Nigrita Prison in northern Greece were granted conditional release yesterday. A judicial council permitted the release of the six prison guards, who are accused of having participated in the torture of the inmate, inflicting injuries that led to his death. The guards were freed on the condition that they do not leave the country, report regularly to their local police precincts and each post a 3,000-euro bail payment. Kareli was transferred to Nigrita in March of last year after killing a guard at Malandrino Prison in central Greece.
Hotel fire.
The management of a hotel in Thessaloniki was forced to evacuate 227 guests from the premises in the early hours yesterday after a fire broke out in a room on the fourth floor. It remained unclear what prompted the fire, which destroyed the room but was contained before it could spread further. Around 20 guests of the Vergina Hotel, which is situated close to the northern port’s main railway station, took refuge on the roof of the building to escape the thick smoke. They were rescued by ladder by the local fire service. No harm came to the guests or the 27 hotel staff, according to local reports.