New revelations about the agricultural subsidies scandal through OPEKEPE are coming to light, with testimonies from people who saw their properties being illegally occupied and used by third parties without any notification or consent.
A farmer describes how, when he went to register his cultivation with the relevant authority, he discovered that someone else had already registered his olive trees for subsidies. “The agricultural plot was mine, full of olive trees, and they tell me that someone else has declared them and has been exploiting them for years. The most disturbing part? They told me this as if it were normal, as if it were commonplace. No one suggested we investigate who this person was or that I should report the incident.”
OPEKEPE: After Crete and Aigion, Eurytania will be next
And this is not the only complaint. In Crete, a dowry for a daughter became a dowry for a land grabber.
“My son-in-law is a farmer. I tell him ‘my boy, come – I have no other child, only my daughter – come and I’ll give you these estates.’ My daughter calls me and says ‘mom, you’ve rented it out.’ I say ‘Holy Mary, child, I haven’t rented anything.’ Searching here and there, I finally find out that a shepherd has rented it. I call the shepherd, he starts cursing me. It’s bad, I can’t get anywhere. We fought badly, I told him ‘I’ll take you to the prosecutor.’ He didn’t care about anything. He should bring me the signature that I rented it to him. I’ll take you to court for forgery. After that, he never dared to do it to me again.”
After Crete and Aigion, Eurytania will be next. “A contract appeared from 01/02/17, stating that I had rented a field with olive trees. 80-85, quite a few roots. I didn’t know about this at all. After years, it was presented to me and they showed me this contract which was also forged. He rented it all, he illegally occupied it. I couldn’t get anywhere. I went and filed a lawsuit against them. I went to the department and filed a lawsuit against them 5-6 days ago and we’ll see what happens.”
