ATHENS — Several officials at the top of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ center-right government resigned on Friday after their names appeared in a file from the European prosecutor implicating them in a massive scheme to defraud the EU’s lavish farm budget.
Those who resigned were Migration Minister Makis Voridis; Deputy Foreign Minister Tasos Chatzivasileiou; Deputy Minister of Rural Development Dionysis Stamenitis; Deputy Minister of Digital Governance Christos Boukoros; and Secretary General for Rural Development and Food Giorgos Stratakos.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is pursuing 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, thereby depriving legitimate farmers of the funds they deserved. This multi-year, multimillion-euro scam was the subject of a POLITICO investigation earlier this year.
Last week, EPPO referred to the Greek parliament information regarding the alleged involvement “in criminal offenses” of two former ministers overseeing the rural development and food portfolio.
The ministers in question are Voridis, agriculture minister from 2021 to 2023, who is now the migration minister, and Lefteris Avgenakis, agriculture minister from 2023 to 2024, who is now a member of parliament.
According to Greek law, only the national parliament has the authority to investigate and prosecute current or former members of the Greek government. This means that, despite its broad mandate to investigate the misuse of EU funds, the EPPO lacks the power to pursue such cases in Greece. The agency has called this a violation of its founding EU regulation.
The EPPO file finally reached parliament this week, and Greek MPs can access it even though it is illegal to make it public. The 3,000-page file describes a “criminal organization” consisting of state officials from OPEKEPE, the organization in charge of EU payments, as well as individuals and MPs who exploited EU funds by illegally receiving agricultural subsidies, according to officials who have viewed it.
The file also describes how the organization operated, mainly in Crete.
Avgenakis and Voridis are accused of misappropriating EU funds. They both reject the claims.
The case file names 15 MPs — 13 from the ruling New Democracy (ND), and one each from the opposition Pasok and Syriza parties — alongside regional officials and former agency executives.
Brazen conversations
Prosecutors requested wiretaps on the phones of OPEKEPE officials, among others, and the case file includes dozens of startlingly brazen conversations. These include high-ranking officials discussing how to remove European prosecutors from the investigation and MPs requesting favors for their constituents.
The file also contains the testimonies of two former OPEKEPE presidents, Grigoris Varras and Evangelos Simandrakos, who were fired by Avgenakis and Voridis for trying to block payments in fraudulent cases. The ministers pressured them to make the payments, the file says.
“Numerous transcribed conversations included in the case file show the action of criminal groups operating with the aim of illegally obtaining subsidies, as well as undermining and obstructing substantial audits that could have prevented the fraud,” EPPO says in a referral note, according to officials who have viewed it.
“Requesting the resignation of [former OPEKEPE president Grigoris] Varras seems to have halted the consolidation of the relevant procedures and gave the opportunity to these groups to continue these activities unhindered,” it added.
Earlier this month, the European Commission hit Greece with a fine of around €400 million for mismanaging EU farm funding and inadequate controls.
According to Greek and EU agriculture officials, more fines are expected to follow. Greece’s government said it will shut down OPEKEPE by next year and the farm payments will be conducted via the Independent Authority for Public Revenues.
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