4 ministers from Greece’s conservative New Democracy authorities resigned on Friday following revelations of their involvement in a scandal associated to EU agriculture funds, in an affair that has shaken Greek politics.
The scandal got here to mild following an investigation led by EU Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi and her consultant in Athens, Popi Papandreou. It centres on OPEKEPE, the Greek company answerable for distributing EU agricultural subsidies. OPEKEPE is accused of processing falsified land leases and false declarations, channelling hundreds of thousands of euros to non-existent farmland.
A number of livestock farmers from the island of Crete have been accused of fraud for the interval between 2019 and 2022. In accordance with Kathimerini, the entire finances for natural farming throughout that interval was €298 million, however subsidy purposes totalling €705 million have been submitted to OPEKEPE.
The Greek authorities has since dissolved OPEKEPE, and in coordination with the European Fee, transferred its actions to the Impartial Authority for Public Income.
Wiretaps reveal stress on EU prosecutor
The ministers who resigned have been all linked to the agriculture ministry through the interval in query: present Migration Minister Makis Voridis, Deputy Overseas Minister Tassos Hadjivassiliou, Deputy Minister for Rural Improvement and Meals Dionysis Stamenitis and Deputy Minister for Digital Governance Christos Boukoros.
Wiretapped telephone conversations, which at the moment are a part of the authorized case, recommend that people concerned within the scandal coordinated with Greek ministers to intervene and “get rid” of Papandreou, who was investigating the matter.
In a separate however associated case, on 11 June the European Fee imposed a €415 million fantastic on Greece for the systematic mismanagement of agricultural assist from 2016 to 2023 – once more involving OPEKEPE.
“Greek taxpayers will in the end pay this cash”, Rural Improvement Minister Kostas Tsiaras instructed the Greek public broadcaster.
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