Ruling New Democracy will propose a parliamentary inquiry committee to investigate alleged irregularities and mismanagement at the OPEKEPE agricultural payments agency, which has been at the center of a farm subsidies scandal.
Opposition parties call the inquiry since 1998 as an “attempt to cover up.”
Meanwhile, new revelations disclose that using the tax number of the Greek Post Service ELTA and virtual lease contracts, hundreds of farmers received over 15 million euros in the period 2019-2022.
There is no end to the revelations about the incredible spree at OPEKEPE, as it appears from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office’s investigation, hundreds of farmers got a 15 million euro subsidy through a scheme with a fake tax number and virtual contracts.
The case records the bottomless audacity of the schemers, as it is revealed that hundreds of farmers who requested community aid in 2022 had submitted virtual contracts, in which a different natural person appeared as the owner each time, but with the same tax number.
“Based on the false – virtual leases in which the disputed Tax number was used, Hellenic Post SA appeared to own no more or less than 4,493 parcels of land,” the report noted.
Parliamentary Inquiry
The probe would cover the agency’s operations from its founding in 1998 to the present, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said on Monday.
“Our proposal covers the period since the establishment of OPEKEPE, so that all dysfunctions can be identified and full accountability and transparency ensured,” Marinakis said.
Marinakis said that current information related to two former ministers – a reference to Makis Voridis and Lefteris Avgenakis – does not meet the legal threshold for initiating a preliminary judicial inquiry.
ND will proceed with the inquiry tomorrow, Tuesday.
ND proposal for a parliamentary inquiry since 1998 has triggered the sharp criticism of opposition parties that claim the investigation over a period of so many years will ultimately lead to no satisfying result.
So far, the European prosecutor has in fact investigated and filed a case for funds mismanagement since the conservative New Democracy took the power from left-wing SYRIZA in 2019.
