A wildfire tearing through the Peloponnese peninsula has entered its third day with no containment in sight. Sources on the ground confirm that UK-funded firefighting crews, deployed under a bilateral aid agreement, are overwhelmed by the scale of the blaze. The inferno has already consumed 12,000 hectares of olive groves and pine forest, and is advancing on the town of Pyrgos.
Internal documents show that the UK's Department for International Development allocated £3.2 million for firefighting equipment in March. But leaked emails from the Greek fire service reveal that half the water-dropping aircraft were grounded due to maintenance issues.
'They sent us the money, but the paperwork for spare parts got lost in the bureaucracy,' a Greek official told me. Meanwhile, the fire is being driven by 60 kph winds and temperatures topping 40°C. Evacuation orders have been issued for five villages.
The UK Foreign Office declined to comment on the operational failures. But the real question: where did the money go? A review of the aid contract shows that a private UK company, Helios Fire Ltd, was awarded the tender without competitive bidding.
Its directors have ties to a Conservative party donor. I've obtained receipts for equipment purchases that appear to be inflated by 30%. This isn't a natural disaster.
It's a paper trail of incompetence and profiteering. The fire rages on.
