Authorities on Thursday questioned the mother of one of the main suspects in a sprawling investigation relating to alleged corruption in the leasing of firefighting aircraft at the Forestry Department (FD).

According to Phileleftheros, she is the mother of an FD official who is a suspect in the criminal probe. The official sat on the FD committee tasked with awarding contracts for the leasing of firefighting aircraft as well as the hiring of pilots.

To date, there are eight suspects in the investigation: four individuals – three FD functionaries and a company manager – and four companies.

The probe is understood to cover some 30 tenders issued by the FD from 2017 through to 2024. The related contracts awarded were worth several million euros.

The suspicions include accepting bribery, bribery of a public functionary, and abuse of power. Some of the offences are felonies and, if proved in a court of law, carry a prison sentence of up to seven years.

CID detectives have already seized documents and electronic devices and are seeking court warrants for access to the telecommunications data of the suspects.

As to the FD official’s mother, reports said she held a position with a corporation connected to another company awarded FD contracts.

Police are said to have established a link between the same FD functionary and two companies that won tenders.

Between 2018 and 2024, six tenders for hiring the services of pilots for firefighting helicopters had been won by the same company.

The FD official in question took part on the panel deciding the awards.

Though his name is widely known in media circles, and appears in related FD documents available online, it is not published due to the presumption of innocence.

No one has been charged as of yet.

Citing sources, Phileleftheros said the man in question was at times using a vehicle belonging to the company that landed the contracts.

Police took an interest after an internal inquiry ordered by Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou. The minister had received a complaint from one of the companies which had bid but not won a tender or tenders. The FD comes under the agriculture ministry.

The ministry’s internal probe was completed around late January, going by an announcement issued at the time. Once the police began investigating shortly thereafter, the three FD functionaries were suspended.

On July 23 their suspension expired, and they returned to duty, but not at the same department they used to serve in.

Regulations state that a civil servant may be suspended for a maximum of six months.