The police have reportedly proposed indictments against 14 legal entities and individuals over the leasing of firefighting aircraft at the Forestry Department following the completion of investigations into possible corruption and bribery surrounding procurement.

Sources cited by Politis on Thursday said police investigations had been wrapped up and the file sent to the attorney-general’s office.

The police investigation followed a formal complaint made to Agriculture Minister Maria Panayiotou by a company that had bid for leasing firefighting helicopters to the Forestry Department (FD) but did not land the contract. The FD comes under the agriculture ministry.

The complainant had alleged that an official, or officials, at the FD finessed procedures to favour a specific bidder, namely, the firm that secured six controversial contracts between 2018 and 2024.

In late January of this year, the agriculture ministry completed its administrative review, covering the period from 2017 to 2024. It then forwarded its findings to the attorney-general, who instructed police to launch a criminal probe.

Since then, the police have amassed a bulk of evidence and have now proposed the filing of charges.

Three forestry department employees had been suspended early on to facilitate investigations. They later returned to work but were transferred to other agriculture ministry departments.

The attorney-general’s office will now examine the evidence and decide whether to file charges.

CID investigations had gone back eight years, examining every detail of contracts for firefighting helicopters and airplanes.

Bank accounts had also been scrutinised. The police found that large sums of money had been deposited in some accounts, leading to investigations of possible bribery.

Investigators also looked into electronic devices and emails.

In June, Phileleftheros had reported that over the years a large number of contracts had been assigned to a single company.

Furthermore, between 2018 and 2024, six tenders for pilot services had been awarded to a specific company.

Earlier media reports said one of the more serious revelations was that a first-degree relative of an FD official was reportedly an officer in a company linked to the winning bidder in three multi-million-euro tenders.

According to police sources, the same official was involved in the evaluation committee for each of these tenders.