It looks as if another scandal with OPEKEPE subsidies is looming this time regarding the certification bodies of organic farming programs or already certified companies with Rural Development and Food Minister Kostas Tsiaras to have announced intensive cross-checks and audits. Already a day earlier, the minister imposed a 6-month suspension of a company’s license that was certifying organic products.
Speaking to state broadcaster ERT on Tuesday morning, Tsiaras said that “roughly 50% of the tax identification numbers already checked for organic products do not meet the subsidy requirements.”
He explained that when in early June he was checking the applications for the subsidies for organic programs for agriculture, livestock and beekeeping “I must confess that I was faced with numbers that obviously could not be accepted. They were out of reality,had not connection to reality.”
These numbers concerned the number of hectares that someone might request for pastures for organic livestock or the absolute number of hives that were included in the organic beekeeping program. “These could not be accepted under any circumstances,” Tsiaras said.
Therefore he did not proceed with the payments that were scheduled to be made on June 30, neither for organic livestock farming nor for organic beekeeping.
“On the contrary, in order to be able to pay these producers around mid-October, when the next payment is scheduled, many multiple cross-checks should be carried out beforehand, in order to see if what is declared is actually real. So, payments for organic livestock farming and organic beekeeping have stopped” the minister added.
Audits are being completed for the major recipients [of subsidies], and gradually other categories will follow. Checks are already underway by the audit team, with the participation of the Financial Police, the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE), and ministry officials, “with the goal of producing clear results very soon.”
Certification bodies under scrutiny
More than 10 organic farming certification companies are being audited.
“We will examine whether the certifying bodies, which were effectively certifying organic farming, organic beekeeping, and organic livestock, operated in accordance with the prescribed procedure,” the Minister stressed.
He also clarified that it has been decided that this audit will be comprehensive and cover the entire spectrum.
The OPEKEPE scandal with fake beneficiaries and recipients of EU agricultural subsidies is something that Mitsotakis’ government cannot simply pretend it never happened.
“is something that Mitsotakis’ government cannot simply pretend it never happened.”
But he’s trying his best, along with ALL the other scandals. He and his party are traitors.