By Nikos Morfonios, Ioanna Louloudi, MIIR

With a Golden Visa in hand. This is how Mohamad Majd Deiry, a Syrian man wanted by the FBI for arms smuggling and money laundering, appears to have been traveling around Greece. And it is also what Samer Rayya did, his Lebanese associate who is currently a fugitive from Greek authorities. 

The Mediterranean Institute for Investigative Reporting (MIIR), in its investigation also published by Ef.Syn. entitled “The Mediterranean Wings of the Underworld” (2/8/2025), revealed recently that Deiry had appeared in Syria’s Damascus International Airport on June 30, during the official reception of the first flight of the Greek airline Air Mediterranean from Athens. It now appears that this is the same man who reportedly since 2018 had secured a Greek Golden Visa valid for five years, through an investment in prime real estate on the island of Aegina. Specifically, Deiry, along with his two sons and Rayya, appears to have paid at least €900,000 for a luxury villa in the tourist area of Perdika on the Saronic island to which they have even made donations. 

Samer Rayya and Mohammad Majd Deiry in the FBI “Most Wanted” list – Source: FBI

At the same time, data from the Greek General Commercial Registry (GEMI) show that Rayya ran his own “strawberry and blueberry cultivation” company in Greece since 2019, first in Athens and then in Mykonos, and that he kept signing the company’s financial statements even in 2023, when the Greek police authorities were looking for him. 

These findings raise serious questions about the broader oversight by Greek authorities, which, in their efforts to attract investment to the country, appear to be neglecting checking the origin of funds that are used to purchase Golden Visas and to start new businesses in Greece.

Mohamad Majd Deiry (second from the right) at Damascus International Airport upon the arrival of the first Air Mediterranean flight from Athens, June 30, 2025 – Source: Syrian Civil Aviation Authority

Who are the wanted Golden Investors? 

Since 2024, Deiry and Rayya have been included in the sanctions list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of Treasury (OFAC), as well as in the FBI’s most wanted list, based on a 2021 indictment. 

“These defendants allegedly ran an international arms trafficking ring and conspired to unlawfully export anti-aircraft ammunition and other military arms and munitions from the United States to Sudan and Iraq, promoting violence and putting Americans and our allies at risk,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division had said at the time. 

According to the US authorities, the two men, since at least 2016, had been the heads of the arms trading Black Shield Company for General Trading LLC.  Based in Irbil, Iraq, Black Shield had “acquired and sold arms used in conflicts around the world, including from key Belarusian defense company Kidma Tech OJSC, an entity designated by OFAC”. At the same time, the two men allegedly “brokered weapons deals and offered air transport services in the Middle East and Africa for individuals, nonstate actors, and government customers, including from Russian arms companies. Black Shield and Deiry maintained relationships with individuals allegedly linked to the Syrian government and engaged in business activity on behalf of the Iranian regime”.

Lebanese national Raya was arrested at Athens airport in 2022. According to a recent investigation by iMEdD, Rayya was detained in Athens for 16 days and released on bail with a condition that he not leave the country. However, he failed to appear at his trial in February 2023 and has been on the run ever since.

Mohamad Majd Deiry speaks at an event in Damascus for the launch of Air Mediterranean flights from Athens, 30-6-2025.

The wanted Syrian Majd Deiry reappeared in Damascus on June 30. A post by the Syrian Civil Aviation Authority presents him as the chairman of the board of a Lebanon-based company called “Arkhos“.  Photos from the reception of the first Air Mediterranean aircraft from Athens show Deiry in front of the aircraft, and later speaking at an event at a large hotel in Damascus on the launch of Air Mediterranean’s new routes to Syria, via Athens, from Vienna, Cologne, and Berlin. 

In a legal warning letter sent to MIIR by Air Mediterranean, the airline claims that it has “no connection” with Deiry, whom it claims is an “advisor on aviation issues” to Arkhos and not the company’s president. However, it is a fact that Deiry spoke formally about the Europe-Syria air link via Air Mediterranean at this event, even making statements to journalists under the title of “Chairman of the Board” of Arkhos.

The Golden Visa uncontrolled mayhem

In 2017, the Greek government, along with dozens of legal, notary, and real estate agencies, advertised the Golden Visa – the program for obtaining a “Permanent Investor Residence Permit”, which at the time was granted for any legal purchase of real estate over €250,000.  From 2024 onwards, in Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini, and on islands with a population of over 3,100, the minimum investment threshold is €800,000 for a property. In the rest of Greece, the minimum amount for a Golden Visa is €400,000.

Lift-off under the Mitsotakis government

The result of this systematic advertising is clear: from 2018 to 2024, a total of 22,928 permanent investor permits have been issued, according to data from the Ministry of Migration and Asylum, while during the same period, at least 6,124 permits of this privileged type have been renewed. In fact, there has been an 81% increase in golden visas issued in the first half of 2025 (5,294) compared to the first half of 2024 (2,926).

Data source: Ministry of Migration and Asylum

Mohamad Majd Deiry also rode this wave of obtaining golden visas through real estate. He was granted a permanent investor residence permit in Greece in May 2018, initially valid for five years, by decision of the Decentralized Administration of Attica region. 

In fact, the decision document, which was examined by MIIR, states that Deiry “meets all the requirements for the issue of the aforementioned residence permit”. The file also includes a document from “the relevant police authority”, which is said to have reviewed and given the green light for the issue of a golden visa. He is therefore declared as a permanent resident of the seaside village of Perdika, on the island of Aegina. This decision is also communicated, as required by procedural rules, to the Headquarters of the Hellenic Police.

What kind of review was conducted in 2018 to give the Syrian businessman a permanent investor permit? And what exactly did the police documents mention in the case of Deiry on public order and security reasons, which (as defined in Law  4251/2014) are a prerequisite for the issuance of such a permit? 

We made an inquiry about the case with the competent authorities of the Directorate for Aliens and Migration of the Southern Sector, Piraeus & Islands, which processed the application for the Golden Visa, as well as with the General Secretariat for Migration Policy.  Citing the law on personal data, the Aliens Directorate limited itself to a general statement to MIIR: “We would like to inform you that the provisions of the Migration Code apply at all stages of processing, communication, and control with regard to the examination of residence permit applications from third-country nationals.”

The General Secretariat for Migration Policy did not respond to our questions.

The luxurious villa and charity activities in Aegina 

The two-story house with a pool and the extra plot of land, covering a total area of 4,600 square meters, is located at Kleidi, Sfendouri in Perdika, Aegina, and was bought in September 2017 for €900,000. 

According to the purchase agreement examined by MIIR, there are four buyers who deposit the money under a resolutive division (with a promissory note for payment in one month) for the entire property, which, as stated, has an objective value of almost three times less than the selling price, at €362,453. 

The two buyers are Deiry and Rayya, while the other two are Deiry’s sons, who still have a business presence in Greece today. The first two and one of the sons undertake the deposit of €256,500 each, while the other son has to deposit €130,500. The sellers were already paid €50,000 upon signing the contract, with the transfer coming from the Lebanese Swiss Bank. 

After obtaining their Golden Visas in 2018, Deiry and Rayya proceeded to establish companies in Cyprus. They are listed in the Cypriot business registry as “permanent residents of Greece”, but their registered address of residence is not Aegina. Instead it is stated as the address of the building that houses the Southern Sector, Piraeus & Islands Aliens & Migration Directorate in Piraeus. OFAC also included these Cyprus-based companies in its sanctions list, judging that Deiry and Rayya were acting as intermediaries through shell companies “in arms deals and providing air transportation to the Middle East and Africa”. 

From guns in Florida to strawberries in Mykonos 

From 2019 to 2023, according to GEMI (Greek business registry), Rayya appears as the sole partner and manager of the company “AGRIWA MONOPROSOPI I.K.E.”, which is reportedly active in the cultivation and packaging of strawberries and blueberries. Today, the company is said to be based in Mykonos, without Rayya present. Although a fugitive and wanted by the FBI, Rayya signed the financial statements of this company in 2023. 

According to data from the General Secretariat for Migration Policy, Rayya’s Golden Visa has now been revoked. However, this does not seem to be the case for Deiry’s permit, which is in a “permit pending” status, indicating that Deiry’s renewal application in March 2023 appears to have been approved. 

So, how is it possible that the Greek authorities are once again ignoring the fact that this individual is wanted by the FBI for serious crimes?

Charitable works in Aegina

Mohamad Majd Deiry’s “public service project” in the Municipality of Aegina is also impressive. Specifically, in December 2022, Deiry, together with his son, donated 990 plants and flowers to the Municipality of Aegina, which were planted in the central Ethnikis Antistaseos Square. 

The mayor of Aegina, Yannis Zorbas, publicly thanked them for this offer, expressing his hope that “others will follow suit.”

Today, the jointly purchased residence in Aegina is rented out as a luxury tourist accommodation through platforms (Airbnb, Booking) and a separate website. 

One night there costs only… €1,665.

On the afternoon of Monday June 30, a plane of the Greek airline Air Mediterranean landed at Damascus International Airport. It was the first passenger flight from Athens to the Syrian capital since the fall of Bashar al-Assad. The flight of this relatively unknown airline and its enthusiastic passengers were greeted by a delegation, which, according to posts on social media, consisted of the Greek Ambassador, Mr. Emmanuel Kakavelakis, representatives of the Syrian Civil Aviation Authority, and an unknown man dressed in white, who was mentioned as the president of a Lebanon-based company entitled Arkhos.

Later, dressed in a black suit, during a celebratory event in Damascus for the launch of Air Mediterranean’s new routes from Vienna, Cologne and Berlin to Syria via Athens, the same man would state: “While bigger airlines had obstacles in scheduling flights to Syria, as a private airline from Greece, we were able to overcome them.”

Mohamad Majd Deiry (second from right), dressed in white, welcomes Air Mediterranean’s first flight to Damascus, June 30, 2025 – Source: Syrian Civil Aviation Authority

The unidentified man who spoke as if he were Air Mediterranean’s representative has a name: Mohamad Majd Deiry. And he has another capacity other than that of a businessman: he is wanted by the FBI for illegal arms trafficking and money laundering as of 2021. His name is included in the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list, which reports that Deiry, along with his Lebanese associate Samer Rayya and their company Black Shield, with the use of shell companies in Cyprus (S. Group Airlines Ltd, Centuronic Ltd) and Turkey, have at least since 2015 “brokered weapons deals and offered air transport services in the Middle East and Africa”. It adds that they “maintained relationships with individuals allegedly linked to the Syrian government and engaged in business activity on behalf of the Iranian regime”. 

The FBI’s wanted poster for Mohammad Majd Deiry – Source: FBI

Data from the Syrian Commercial Registry shows that Deiry ran a business under his name since 1986, involving “trading, importing, and exporting of all materials permitted by the state.” In 2018, Deiry appeared in Greece, declaring himself a permanent resident, with an address similar to that of the “Aliens & Migration Directorate of the Southern Sector”. His main associate Rayya was arrested at Athens’ “Eleftherios Venizelos” airport in 2022. According to a recent report by iMEdD, Rayya remained in custody in Athens for 16 days and was released on bail under the condition that he not leave the country pending trial. However, Raya did not show up at the trial in February 2023. 

Why is a Syrian arms dealer, with an outstanding international arrest warrant against him and an associate on the run, speaking on behalf of a Greek airline in Syria? What do we know about Air Mediterranean, which was already operating flights to Damascus in 2023, during Assad’s regime, when no other European airline did the same? 

The Mediterranean Institute for Investigative Journalism (MIIR), in a co-publication with SIRAJ (Syria), Daraj (Lebanon), L’Espresso (Italy) and VoxEurope (France), unravels the tangle of a case that could be a noir film script, but is not. It is a series of events that holds both the Greek and European authorities accountable, unfolding in Greece, Cyprus, Syria, Libya, Italy, Lebanon and Dubai. It involves the family of a well-known Lebanese businessman – known to the Greek political elite since the time of Andreas Papandreou – an inter-company civil war, allegations of mismanagement and financial irregularities, transactions through Cyprus, a man wanted for arms trafficking, and a convicted drug kingpin linked to the illegal trafficking of migrants to and from Libya. And as this cross-border investigation reveals today, an Interpol “red notice” pending for two of the individuals at the heart of this story, to which the Greek police and judicial authorities have yet to respond.. 

From take-off to turbulence 

Air Mediterranean (Mediterranean Airlines S.A.) was established on September 1st 2015, by three individuals: Hamad Ali Al-Thani, one of the founders of Qatar Airways and Chairman of Blue Air Leasing based in the United Arab Emirates, on one hand, and Greek-Lebanese Fadi Elias Hallak and Andreas Hallak on the other. They are the sons of the powerful and influential Lebanese businessman George Hallak (or Hallaq or Challak), known for his warm friendship with former long-time Greek Prime Minister and leader of Pasok political party, Andreas Papandreou, his close ties with the Greek political elite, and leaders who were once prominent in the Middle East, such as Palestinian Yasser Arafat and Syrian Hafez Al Assad. Earlier reports (Wall Street Journal, 1993) indicate Hallak as the instigator of a scheme that made money for the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) through the purchase of airlines and duty-free shops in several countries, a move that may allegedly have facilitated the smuggling of all kinds of illicit goods.

Article in the “Eleftherotypia” newspaper about Andreas Papandreou’s influential close friend, Lebanese businessman George Hallak – Source: Eleftherotypia, 1996

George Hallak himself, 85 years-old today, does not appear in documents of the company, whereas his wife Nada appears to be serving as president. The current accountable manager, former pilot, Marios Samprakos was added to the Board in 2021. The company, however, is managed and trades through a network of Cyprus-based companies.

In order to serve the aircraft leasing and purchasing needs, as well as the management of Air Mediterranean, the Hallak brothers established in 2017 at least two companies in Cyprus: Pantrelalo Trading Limited, which holds 74.993% of Air Mediterranean’s shareholding, and GMT Aviation Limited, that owns 18.872% of the airline.  In Pantrelalo, which operates as a trust company, the two Hallak brothers share equally half of the shares, while its management is entrusted to Omnium Trust, another Cypriot legal entity run by the law firms Noble Trust and Ioannides-Demetriou, whose clients are the Hallaks. 

The two brothers, who are now on opposite sides, are also shareholders in GMT Aviation Limited, along with Libank and Blue Air Leasing (Al-Thani interests). In fact, former New Democracy MP, economist and founder of Nuntius, Alexandros Moraitakis, took over as director only on 10 July, replacing former New Democracy MP and former Deputy Minister of Finance, Petros Doukas. Mr. Doukas appears in the Cyprus Business Register to have assumed the post of director on 17/2/2023, i.e. during the period when he was still serving as mayor of Sparta. When asked about his role, he initially denied any involvement with GMT Aviation, and then said it was a position he had accepted for a short time.

Between 2018 and 2021, Air Mediterranean’s Board of Directors included two individuals associated with the Lebanese bank “Levant Investment Bank” (Libank), which invested funds in the company. Today, however, the bank itself is allegedly accusing Air Mediterranean, and specifically Andreas and George Hallak, of fraud and embezzlement of €6.61 million. As a result, a Red Notice from Interpol was issued on April 17 2024, at the request of the Lebanese authorities. The relevant provisional arrest warrant makes no mention of the second brother, Fadi Hallak, who since 2022 appears to have been in open conflict with his family, according to media reports and other information MIIR has examined. According, however, to Interpol’s Notice, the charges could carry a maximum sentence of three years in prison. To date, it remains unknown whether the Greek authorities have in any way responded to the request for the provisional arrest and extradition of the Hallaks to Lebanon. We reached out to the Hellenic Police, but have not yet received a response.

Request by the Lebanese authorities for the issuance and execution of a Red Notice by Interpol for Messrs. George and Andreas Hallak – Source: Lebanese Ministry of Justice

But how did it all begin? From its inception, the Hallak company promised high-end passenger and cargo services from Europe to the Middle East and North Africa. On November 2 2017, Air Mediterranean operated its first passenger flight, which it celebrated with a glittering event a few days earlier with a range of guests: from Archbishop Ieronymos and Nikos Papandreou to former MP Panagiotis Kouroumplis and popular celebrities. Despite the initial publicity, however, the airline’s activity remained limited until 2019, focusing on charter flights and routes to Larnaca, Stockholm, London (Stansted), Baghdad, Casablanca, Khartoum and Jeddah. 

Immigrants boarding an Air Mediterranean aircraft in Athens prior to their voluntary return flight to Iraq under the IOM program, August 5, 2020 – Source: Greek Ministry of Migration

The “boarding” of a wanted drug dealer

In November 2021, George Hallak travelled with Marios Samprakos to Syria, where he met the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Fassyal Mikdad, despite the fact that he was on an EU sanctions list as a member of Assad’s government since January 2021. This is one of Hallak’s several trips to the region not as a Lebanese businessman, but as a diplomatic envoy of Guyana’s president – in fact, in his capacity as “Minister of Southern Europe, Middle East” of the state, considered a tax haven in Latin America. In addition to ties with Guyana, George Hallak has until 2023 maintained a relationship with Panama, where he had set up an offshore anonymous company called “Fang”, named after the real estate investment company he has owned since 2003 in Greece. 

Around that time, Air Mediterranean began considering operating routes to Syria, at a time when other European airlines were not doing so, due to the war and existing sanctions. In September 2022, Syrian Eyad Esleem, a man who reportedly was on good terms with Assad’s wider circle, settles in Athens and starts working for Air Mediterranean as a commercial manager. 

Eyad Esleem also wears another hat, since he is as well the mandated representative of Freebird Travel Agency (Al-Tair Al-Hurr for Tourism),  which for one year will be the sole agency issuing tickets for Air Mediterranean in Syria, as described in the contract (“General Agency for the Sale of Passenger and Cargo Transport Services” contract) signed by the two companies on the 28th of September 2022.   

Things move forward, and on 9 March 2023, the Greek airline operates the first passenger flight from a European carrier to Damascus since 2012.

The first Air Mediterranean flight to Damascus, departing March 9 2023, on the departures board at Athens International Airport – Source: Bashar Deeb

The key man for all the dirty work

At this point, serious questions can be raised about the oversight from Greek and European authorities that allowed this partnership and this flight route to be established, but also about the responsibilities of the carrier itself. The main reasons are the following: 

• Freebird, in addition to being an agency for Air Mediterranean, is an agency working for Cham Wings Airlines (FLYCHAM). The notorious Syrian airline that operated routes between Syria and Libya, was involved in illegal trafficking of mercenaries, migrants and drugs, and is on OFAC’s sanctions list.  Previous investigative reporting by Reporters United, SIRAJ, Lighthouse Reports, Der Spiegel & El Pais has proved that several of the 750 migrants who were on the Adriana fishing boat that sunk off the coast of Pylos on June 14, 2023 -to this day the deadliest shipwreck in the Mediterranean- were transported from Damascus to Benghazi via Cham Wings. The transfer involved providing fake travel documents to passengers who allegedly paid $4,500 for the ill-fated voyage.
• Freebird belongs to the Al-Daj Group (or Al-Dj or Daj Commercial Group) founded and run by Syrian-Libyan businessman Mahmoud Al-Daj (or Al-Dj or Daj), one of Syria’s most powerful businessmen in the logistics and tourism sectors, with strong ties to the Assad regime, for which he provided supporting services. Through Al-Daj Group, illegal transactions such as the transfer of arms, mercenaries and drugs between General Haftar’s eastern Libya and Syria were facilitated.
• Mahmoud Al-Daj and his Al-Ta’ir Company (Al-Ta’ir) are behind the coordination of operations to transport illegal Captagon drug shipments to Libya. These include the cargo of Captagon and cannabis worth more than $100 million from the ship “Noka” that was intercepted by Greek authorities off the coast of Crete on 5/12/2018, having started its journey towards Benghazi from the port of Latakia in Syria. Evidence of Al-Daj’s illegal activity has been presented as early as 2021 by investigations by OCCRP, The New Arab and Der Spiegel. For his actions, Al-Daj was sentenced in absentia to death by firing squad in 2019 by a Benghazi court. In 2024, an Al-Daj company named “Al ayadi al zahabiah” (“Golden Hands”) was also behind the transfer of 2.000 Syrian workers to Libya, where they were called to work in terrible conditions resembling labour concentration camps, as Syrian journalists were able to uncover.

The Captagon drug shipment from the “Noka” cargo ship that was seized in Crete by the Hellenic Coast Guard.
– Source: Hellenic Coast Guard

• As of 2024, Mahmoud Al-Daj, the Al-Daj Group, Freebird and Al-Ta’ir are on the OFAC and European Union sanctions list. As of July 1, 2025, OFAC’s list has become the “Promoting Accountability for Assad” (PAARSS).

The contract between Freebird and Air Mediterranean for the Athens-Damascus trips was signed by Al-Daj and Andreas Hallak. Although the details of Al-Daj’s criminal activity have been known to the Greek authorities, on May 24 2023 the company “Free Bird Hellas SA” was established in Athens. As reported in the Greek business registry, its founders are Eyad Esleem and Mahmoud Daj, who is declared as a “businessman of Syrian nationality” who appears registered with a Greek VAT number and a residence address in Glyfada, an Athenian suburb. The company, which is described as a travel agency, will remain in operation until April 2024.

How was a wanted drug trafficker able to secure a personal VAT number and a registered office for his business in Greece without any authority taking action? 

Air Mediterranean’s flights to/from Damascus continued weekly from March until October 2023, A Freebird Facebook post also informed of the airline’s network expansion to European cities, stating that as an “agent of Greek Mediterranean Airlines, it will operate flights from Europe to Damascus and vice versa via Athens, starting from 14/05/2023“. 

In Syria tickets were issued through the Freebird page, however, according to sources in the country, it is alleged that through this agency, interested parties could also obtain fake travel documents.

Since June 2, we have repeatedly requested data from the Hellenic Police on the arrests of foreign nationals with fake visas at the Athens airport, coming with flights from Syria and Libya in 2023, and information on the routes and airlines involved. However, at the time of first publication (2/8/2025) no answer had been received.**

Mahmoud Al-Daj at the Al-Daj Group offices. – Source: Al-Daj Group

The fugitives and the suspicious silence of the Hellenic Police

For all of the above, and the company’s relationship with the new associate in Syria, Mohammad Majd Deiry, who is on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list, we addressed questions to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Hellenic Police. We received no response. 

The EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) confirmed to us that audits were conducted on the airline in 2024, while we did not receive a response from the relevant Directorate of the European Commission. In Greece, the Civil Aviation Authority assured that Air Mediterranean provided the required documentation to obtain the licence to operate flights, while adding that it is not responsible for checking passengers or goods entering or transiting the country.

In a detailed response to MIIR, Libank, who remains a shareholder with GMT Aviation in Cyprus (one of Air Mediterranean’s shareholders), claims that “due to GMT’s and LIBANK’s entire exclusion from Air Mediterranean, we were not involved or aware of any of its activities, except for those which became available in public news sources. Given that, we are completely unaware of Air Mediterranean’s cooperation with Freebird, Arkhos Offshore Sal and Mr. Deiry, as well as the flights operated between Athens and Damascus in March 2023.” In regards to its dispute with Andrew and George Hallak, Libank confirms that it has pursued the men, as well as Nada Hallak, “for criminal organized fraud in the Beirut Courts. LIBANK was successful in getting an indictment from the Prosecutor as well as an international arrest warrant for Mr. George Hallaq and Mr. Andreas Hallaq”.

Air Mediterranean did not provide any response to our questions.

A Freebird advertisement for Air Mediterranean flights.

Hallak versus Hallak

Who is ultimately responsible for these business decisions? And what are the Greek authorities doing on their end? A document that sheds light on the above is a letter that was allegedly drafted and sent in February 2024 by Air Mediterranean’s indirect shareholder, and until recently board member, Fadi Elias Hallak, to the law firm Noble Trust, which represents the airline’s main shareholder, Cypriot company Pantrelalo Trading Limited. In the letter examined by MIIR, Fadi Hallak refers to unilateral actions against him by the Board of Directors of Air Mediterranean, which he believes have harmed him financially, and to a management that does not allow him access to company records.

He also accuses his brother and father and their main associates, among others, of “cooking and faking the financial and operational books and records of Air Mediterranean throughout the entirety of flight operations since 2017”, and claims that the “cargo dangerous goods manifest is misrepresented and the real data hidden from all authorities”, and denounces “serious breaches of financial, fiduciary, safety, security and operational duties”.  

The letter also mentions that “Mahmoud Al-Daj regularly visited George and Andreas in the offices of AirMed and has visited the house of George and Nada Hallak several times”. The author also claims that George Hallak “continues to use his connections to bribe and employ continuous intimidation tactics” and expresses fear for his life and his family. 

Andreas and George Hallak did not offer a response to our questions. We contacted Fadi Hallak individually, who confirmed the existence of the letter and informed us that he has taken court and extrajudicial action against the company, of which he remains an indirect shareholder. He further stated: “In my effort since January 2022, through the judicial institutions and the independent authorities in Greece and Cyprus, to bring out the truth about the way Air Mediterranean operates, I have so far encountered only inexplicable dead ends.  I now hope that the illegal acts and those responsible for the actions of this airline will be revealed, and that the leaders of the judiciary will be mobilised to fulfil their not-so-self-evident duty.” 

According to lawyers involved in the case, a deputy prosecutor of appeals has been the recipient of the information and allegations made by Fadi Hallak in his letter, and was looking into forwarding it to the Anti-Money Laundering Authority. At the same time, the Athens Public Prosecutor’s Office also has the letter in its possession, following a lawsuit by a greek state body, and should follow up on verifying the allegations made by Fadi Hallak. No known developments in the case were available prior to publication.