Maria Karystianoú, through an official statement by “Elpida for Democracy,” describes the purchase of a 29 sq.m. studio apartment via auction in 2023 as “an isolated business action by a former associate.” The property was acquired by the company “Where About Travels” for €30,457. She characterizes the affair as a deliberate attempt at “defamation” and public misinformation, noting that the situation was distorted to portray her as a “foreclosure vulture.” The statement concludes with sharp criticism directed at both Mitsotakis and Tsipras over the issue of investment funds. Ms. Karystianoú stressed that the purchase in question represents a standalone business move made by a former associate, and bears no connection to her personal activities.
Read also: Gratsia defends Karystianoú over reports of fund-linked property purchase in 2022: “There is nothing hidden” (Video)
The full statement
“The matter of the purchase of a 29 sq.m. studio apartment in 2023 by the company ‘Where About Travels,’ and the provocative manner in which it was deliberately distorted, represents yet another clear attempt to defame the President of the Independent Citizens’ Movement ‘ELPIDA for Democracy,’ Maria Karystianoú, and to mislead public opinion.
An isolated business action by a former associate was twisted so that certain individuals could maliciously and unscrupulously brand her a ‘foreclosure vulture.’
1. In 2022, Maria Karystianoú co-founded a real estate company with her former partner, Giannis Moisidis. Each contributed one property they already owned.
2. As evidenced by the publicly available records in the General Commercial Registry (GEMI), this company never developed any meaningful commercial activity. Its only assets are two properties, which were never even utilized for income-generating purposes — such as rental. In other words, they generated no profit whatsoever.
3. One of these two properties is the now-notorious 29 sq.m. studio apartment, which was indeed acquired — on the initiative and under the coordination of her former partner — through an online auction process, as he himself has publicly confirmed.
4. This transaction took place six months after the Tempi rail disaster, during a period when Maria Karystianoú was entirely devoted — beyond her medical practice, which is her primary livelihood — to the fight for justice for her daughter, Martha, through legal and other actions both in Greece and across Europe.
5. As demonstrated by the company’s published balance sheets in GEMI, the turnover for both 2023 and 2024 is nearly zero (attached). What strikes us all, however, is how the journalists who covered this story with such zeal managed to withhold from the public the company’s financial data — data which conclusively proves whether the company was active or not.
6. We would expect — and rightfully demand — that the media devote the same enthusiasm to the wave of real estate purchases made by political figures, which in 2024 alone (as per the 2025 asset declarations covering the 2024 fiscal year) exceeded a combined total of €20 million, with no visible explanation of their origin. How did these politicians — shielded from accountability by Article 86 of the Constitution — find the money to make all these extravagant purchases? Luxury residences, factories, historic properties in Paris and London, bought by people who enter politics owning 2–3 properties and leave owning 30–40.
7. From its founding — and until we choose to dissolve it — our Movement has treated the seizure of assets belonging to hundreds of thousands of citizens by investment funds and servicers as a paramount political and social issue. These funds were established under Alexis Tsipras and flourished under Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Restoring justice on this matter lies at the very core of our Movement’s founding declaration, and the concrete actions we will take on this issue will serve as the most compelling proof that our Movement is here to make a difference and to fight corruption. That is precisely why they wage such a cowardly and immoral campaign against us, with relentless mudslinging and malicious slander.
We will not be blackmailed, we will not be intimidated, and we will not deviate one inch from what we have clearly stated and will announce in detail at our upcoming event. The central pillar of our programme is confronting the outrageous impunity of investment funds, operating under a regime of governmental protection and support — a phenomenon we will soon expose in its entirety, so that the system may once again be stripped bare.”
