“What Is Legal Is Not Always Ethical”: Diakomichalis Challenges €900,000 Direct Award
Dimitris Diakomichalis, leader of the municipal opposition group “Kalymnos – Dynami Prooptikis,” has raised serious questions over the Municipality of Kalymnos’ decision to proceed with a direct contract award worth €900,000, including VAT.
In a press release issued on Monday, August 17, 2026, under the central statement “What is legal is not always ethical,” Mr Diakomichalis strongly criticised Mayor of Kalymnos Ioannis Mastrokoukos over the handling of damage caused to island infrastructure by the extreme weather conditions recorded last February.
According to the statement, the contract concerns, among other infrastructure, damage to the breakwater at Myrties and is being awarded under Article 32 of Greece’s Public Procurement Law 4412/2016.
Mr Diakomichalis argues that although six months have passed since the severe weather event, the Municipality chose to proceed with only one offer. He states that the award was approved in June through Municipal Committee Decision 166/2026 and that the file was subsequently submitted to the competent Commissioner for a pre-contractual review, which it passed.
The opposition leader makes clear, however, that his objection does not concern the legality of the procedure. Instead, he questions why additional contractors were not invited to submit financial offers.
In his view, the Municipality could have approached two more contractors within the framework of Law 4412/2016 and negotiated the execution of the project, seeking a greater discount and better protection of municipal interests.
He also accused the Municipal Port Fund of making successive contract awards while disregarding the island’s scientific and technical professionals, who, as he put it, are now “up in arms.”
Three questions for the Mayor
Mr Diakomichalis publicly addressed three specific questions to Mayor Mastrokoukos:
- Why were two additional contractors not invited to submit offers and enter into negotiations?
- Why did the Municipality not seek potential financial savings through the participation of two additional companies offering competing bids?
- Who prevented the municipal administration from approaching other companies during the four months between the February 2026 weather event and the adoption of Decision 166/2026?
The leader of “Kalymnos – Dynami Prooptikis” stressed that his objections relate exclusively to the Mayor’s handling of the matter and not to the actions of private business interests.
Concluding his statement, Mr Diakomichalis described the case as raising “a major ethical issue,” despite the Commissioner’s approval of the procurement file, and argued that the chosen procedure did not adequately safeguard the Municipality’s financial interests.
