Authorities Investigate Marriages-For-Citizenship Scam - Local Politicians Suspects

 (Photo credit: epSos.de)

The Achaia prefecture prosecutor's office, in the western Peloponnese, has ordered an investigation into allegations of a fake marriage-for-citizenship scam, between Greek citizens and foreigners, as reported by the Ministry of Interior. Are you sitting down? According to reports, those implicated in this new scam, are none other than the local mayor, the city councilors and a bunch of lawyers (or as we lovingly call them wanna-be Greeks).

According to the Ministry, in the summer of 2013, about 26 weddings were held in the region between Greeks and foreign nationals, some of which included instances of bigamy. It was discovered that Greek women had been married twice on the same day to two different foreign nationals who, on the basis of their marriage to Greek women, had filed for residence permits.

The scam had taken on such wide dimensions, that over the last two weeks alone, one lawyer had lodged 67 resident permit applications on behalf of foreign nationals who had married Greek citizens.

Certainly authorities have their hands full with this one, because they have to begin digging in the registries for several years. At the same time though, they have decided to also investigate the suspects involved in this case, who they believe may even be guilty of other criminal offences.