The farm subsidies scandal in Greece deepens as the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has launched a preliminary investigation into former New Democracy official Kalliopi Semertzidou and her family, following reports they illegally received €2.5 million in farm subsidies from the Greek agricultural payments organization, OPEKEPE.
This action comes as Greece’s Anti-Money Laundering Authority, led by Charalambos Vourliotis, also investigates OPEKEPE payments to Semertzidou and nine other individuals from the Thessaly region.
Semertzidou resigned from her position as Coordinator of Community Resources and Women’s Entrepreneurship for New Democracy, a role she held until Tuesday. She has denied the allegations, stating that the reports are “completely false.”
In a televised interview, she claimed her family’s farming business has a large livestock unit and has only received “legal subsidies” from OPEKEPE. She also addressed a report about a luxury car, stating her partner bought the Ferrari in 2004 and it was not hidden.
In her resignation letter, Semertzidou said she was the victim of an “unfair and targeted attack” and that she was stepping down to protect the party.
EU pursues dozens of cases relating to the farm scandal in Greece
EPPO pursued dozens of cases in which Greeks received EU agricultural funds for pastureland they did not own or lease, or for agricultural work they did not perform, depriving legitimate farmers of the funds they deserved.
The Parliament in Greece voted last week to establish a commission to investigate the scandal.
The MPs voted on a proposal by the ruling New Democracy party to investigate the former agency, OPEKEPE, and its disbursement practices since its founding in 1998. OPEKEPE was dissolved earlier this year and its role taken up by the Independent Public Revenue Authority, which includes the tax service.
Opposition slams government
Opposition parties unanimously denounced the government, saying its proposal amounted to a whitewash that ignored the voluminous case file submitted by EPPO and which concerned solely the years 2019-22, that is, the first three years of the current conservative government. At least five current or former ministers and another 10 MPs could be implicated, according to the transcripts.
The EPPO dossier describes a “criminal organization” comprising officials from Greece’s agency for distributing EU subsidies, OPEKEPE, along with individuals and MPs who illegally received EU agricultural subsidies, according to officials who have viewed it.
In a 36-page note in English attached to the file, EPPO states that officials at OPEKEPE and the Agriculture Ministry, together with people in business, “acted in an organized manner in order to establish a system of non-controls and obtain or facilitate the receipt of illegal aid.”
The Mitsotakis government — thanks to the majority enjoyed by his center-right New Democracy party and a legal quirk that only allows the Greek parliament to prosecute government ministers — has chosen not to investigate its own people.
Related: Ghost Farms and Dead Men: Greece’s Farm Scandal Uncovered
