The Internal Affairs Services of the Hellenic Police have documented a huge surge in reports of corruption and other illegal activities in the public sector, in their annual report.
The report for 2013 shows an increase ranging from 150% to 430% in certain areas, such as schools, military service, the Coast Guard and the Fire Brigade. In the Police alone, there were 93% more reports regarding misconduct and illegal activities.
According to the report, in 2013 the Internal Affairs Services handled 2,060 reports of misconduct, up from 1,060 in 2012 and 797 in 2011. Of the 2,060 reports the 1,288 related to police personnel. The greatest surge of misconduct was documented in instances of disciplinary issues (531.03%), followed by narcotics (91.3%), immigration (56%) and weapons (53%).
The reports of misconduct in the Coast Guard increased by 433%, the Fire Brigade 200%, education 142.86%, insurance funds 33.33%, and public companies 26.92%, while healthcare services saw an increase of about 25%.
Rather revealing of the situation though is the fact that almost half of the public sector officers facing charges of corruption and misconduct between 1999 and 2013 have been found innocent by the courts. O
f the 1,228 cases of misconduct that were referred to the courts, in 596 cases there was a conviction, while 568 were found innocent. After appeals in 282 cases, a further 115 were found innocent. The Internal Affairs report also documents alleged Golden Dawn enclaves within the Police, after an internal investigation was carried out.
