New evidence has come to light regarding the case of illegal agricultural subsidy collections from OPEKEPE in Western Greece, following continuous investigations by the Economic Crime Unit of the Organized Crime Department.
Specifically, a total of 16 tax identification numbers were identified, which had illegally received the amount of €382,544.81, according to data presented by Michalis Chrysochoidis, Minister of Citizen Protection. Of these tax numbers, seven received subsidies exceeding €20,000, while the remaining nine received subsidies below €20,000. It should be noted that the authorities’ investigation covered the period 2019-2024 and included 819,620 unique subsidy applications from individuals and legal entities. During the investigation, authorities examined over 6,000 applications, identifying a total of €22 million in improperly paid amounts.
Criminal investigation into the OPEKEPE case
It is emphasized that these new developments were revealed following a criminal investigation conducted by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. Thus, the supervising prosecutor of the Organized Crime Department issued an order for a Preliminary Investigation, which launched the inquiry by the Organized Crime Department | Economic Crime Unit into the Unified Subsidy Applications of individuals and legal entities to OPEKEPE for the years 2019-2024. The Economic Crime Unit’s investigation aims to collect the necessary evidence for the competent prosecutor to determine whether criminal charges should be filed for the following offenses:
- Criminal organization/formation/conspiracy,
- common and aggravated fraud related to grants, single and continuous,
- common and aggravated forgery individually and in co-perpetration, single and continuous,
- moral authorship/complicity in the above acts individually and in co-perpetration, in aggregate, single and continuous.
