That’s because The Mall is an Olympic project that was, nevertheless, inaugurated a full year after the Games (the Media Village was meant to provide accommodation to foreign journalists).

The agreement between the Greek state and Lamda focused on the construction of a housing complex to accommodate a number of foreign journalists during a 15-day period.

[10] In exchange, the state changed the laws so that Lamda could build a giant shopping center on land which it did not own, under terms not allowed by the Greek Constitution.

The Mall scandal involves Spiros Latsis and his corporation, members of both major Greek political parties (including the former and current Prime Ministers), their government ministers (who introduced legislation contrary to the Constitution), the local mayor, Mr. Tzanikos (who came up with the idea for the construction and is currently being sued in court) and, last but not least, the president of Athens 2004, Gianna Angelopoulou-Daskalaki.

Following a motion brought by a citizen, Dorilaos Klapakis, the Greek Supreme Court (SC) ruled in 2003 that the laws passed for The Mall were indeed unconstitutional and ordered the cessation of its construction.

Tens of stores and movie theatres, including multinational brands, operate illegally and without a license in spite of the police having pressed charges against them.

That means that the Mall was being built from 2001 to 2005 and eventually opened in late 2005 on public land that Lamda Development did not own or rent.

[citation needed] Outside Greece, the Latsis Group (which holds a majority stake in the Mall Athens) is also dealt with extreme caution by the international media.

The British newspapers The Times,[15][16] and The Telegraph[17] dealt with the close relationship between Spiro Latsis and José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission.

An explosive device behind a newspaper stand at The Mall Athens slightly injured two security staff on Sunday morning 20 January 2013.