The parliamentary committee investigating OPEKEPE will continue its work today, Thursday (25/9), with the testimonies of two former presidents of the organization: Kyriakos Babasidis and Evangelos Simandrakos. These are two individuals who were at the center of the scandal from the beginning – the first due to his involvement in conversations found in the case file transmitted to Parliament by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, while the second relates to his letters regarding the “red“ tax numbers.
OPEKEPE committee: Salatas points to Mylonakis for his dismissal
During Wednesday’s committee session in Parliament’s room 223, interim OPEKEPE president Ioannis Kavvadas and former OPEKEPE president Nikos Salatas appeared. The session was “marked“ by Salatas’s statements, as he “pointed to“ Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Georgios Mylonakis as responsible for his dismissal. Specifically, when asked by SYRIZA rapporteur Vasilis Kokkalis who gave the order for his dismissal, he replied it was “Mr. Mylonakis. He didn’t like my position“. It’s worth noting that initially Salatas hesitated to name Mylonakis, saying his dismissal came from the Maximos Mansion. However, when Kokkalis persisted, the former OPEKEPE president revealed Georgios Mylonakis’s name.
Lazaridis responds on OPEKEPE: “The truth has begun to shine”
In a statement to cameras outside Parliament, majority rapporteur Makarios Lazaridis emphasized that “the truth has begun to shine“, arguing that “it was proven from the former president’s testimony that New Democracy not only had no intention to cover up and prevent European prosecutors from conducting the necessary checks, but on the contrary demanded that Salatas allow these checks to proceed“. “When friction began between Nikos Salatas and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, the government had only one solution. His removal“, Lazaridis added.
Government sources claim no OPEKEPE cover-up
Government sources commented Wednesday afternoon, regarding Salatas’s examination by the OPEKEPE investigating committee, that “former organization president Nikos Salatas acknowledged cross-party and long-standing responsibilities in OPEKEPE administrations since the organization’s establishment, which confirms there was no cover-up by New Democracy governments“.
“This is because Salatas revealed that in a phone conversation with Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister G. Mylonakis, the latter made it clear that ‘he must let the European Public Prosecutor’s Office do its job, otherwise the government has no choice but to remove him from the organization’“, the same sources noted and added: “This development vindicates the government’s position that not only has it not covered up anything, but the opposite – it puts ‘everything in the light’ into practice“.
Meanwhile, SYRIZA sources argued that Nikos Salatas “definitively named Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Georgios Mylonakis as the person who dismissed him from the organization“, while the same sources added that he testified that “Mylonakis never told him to cooperate with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office“.
OPEKEPE committee: Salatas attacks Tycheropoulou
It’s worth noting that Nikos Salatas also launched “attacks” against Paraskevi Tycheropoulou, former director of the organization, whom he claimed to have reported to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office for 20 offenses, but they ignored him. According to Nikos Salatas’s allegations, his reports were ignored, but the European Public Prosecutor’s Office seconded her to its services as a special expert. The former OPEKEPE president added that Paraskevi Tycheropoulou directed the investigation to avoid checking the 2022-2023 period, during which she held both directorates (control and payments) in the organization.
“I entered the organization and found lawsuits by the technical advisor against OPEKEPE. I found lawsuits between employees and directors. Both plaintiff and defendant was Ms. Tycheropoulou, whom the European Public Prosecutor’s Office had chosen as a special expert. Ms. Kyvelou called me, an appeals prosecutor who is a coordinator at the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and whom I knew from before. I told her that the person you chose (Tycheropoulou) should be investigated, not investigating. She has disciplinary and criminal charges“, Salatas commented.
As he noted, shortly after, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office requested Tycheropoulou’s secondment there. “This meant Ms. Tycheropoulou would have investigative duties. I looked at the file and saw she didn’t have the formal qualifications“, the former OPEKEPE president said meaningfully. According to Salatas, Evangelos Simandrakos ten days before taking up his duties determined that Ms. Tycheropoulou, who was head of the training department, was capable of becoming interim director of OPEKEPE’s most sensitive committee.
“For the 20 offenses that no one calls me to testify about, it’s as if I’m not speaking”
According to him, Ms. Tycheropoulou took over both of OPEKEPE’s most sensitive directorates. “I find that Ms. Tycheropoulou, always having the presumption of innocence, appears to have committed ten misdemeanors and six felonies. What I’m saying is proven by documents. I send a second letter with another felony offense and state the responsibilities of Mr. Paschalis. He cannot ignore the OPEKEPE president when he says that an OPEKEPE employee should be prosecuted for 17 offenses. And then I found more offenses“, he added.
Salatas claimed he was slandered by European Public Prosecutor’s Office announcements regarding obstruction of the investigation. “It’s inconceivable that an OPEKEPE president tells his prosecutor colleagues that a person has committed 17 offenses and they ignore me“. He claimed that Paschalis from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office pressured Tsiaras to act illegally by requesting Tycheropoulou’s secondment. “Paranoid things for me“, he emphasized.
Referring to the 2022-2023 period, Salatas wondered: “Was there a scandal before 2022-2023, then a break, and it returned after the scandal? Why was there a selective investigative process? In this period, Tycheropoulou was all-powerful. Do you understand what’s happening here? Indisputable. For the 20 offenses that no one calls me to testify about, it’s as if I’m not speaking. How much can the European Public Prosecutor’s Office have guarantees of impartiality in what it says? In 2022-2023 the organization collapsed. Things I couldn’t believe were happening“.
Meanwhile, the former OPEKEPE administrator also launched an attack against Justice Minister Georgios Floridis, accusing him of “false certification” to enable her secondment. He also made pointed remarks about Rural Development Minister Kostas Tsiaras, saying that although he was “concerned, he ultimately didn’t stand against the slanders that were organized against him.
Nikos Salatas’s allegations triggered an angry reaction from PASOK rapporteur Milena Apostolaki. “We witnessed an inconceivable attack by the witness on the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and its officials. You directly questioned their credibility. I express my deepest concern about the consequences of these reckless and passionate statements from a former official chosen by the government“, Milena Apostolaki noted meaningfully and added that “no one is interested in your vendetta with Ms. Tycheropoulou“, resulting in Nikos Salatas’s “explosion“.
Kavvadas: “Whatever documents are requested from OPEKEPE will be provided immediately”
For his part, interim organization president Giannis Kavvadas chose not to answer most questions, while often avoiding eye contact with MPs asking about the OPEKEPE scandal. He frequently cited the fact of his mere 22 days at the organization’s helm.
“We are thoroughly studying all data found in the organization, recording obligations and have begun the process of checking archives to respond to timely payments to beneficiaries“, the interim OPEKEPE president noted after the organization’s integration into the Independent Authority for Public Revenue. Among other things, the interim OPEKEPE president argued that “any candidate beneficiary who has accurately completed their application has nothing to fear, they will be paid normally“, giving assurances about OPEKEPE payments when asked to respond to a relevant question.
At the same time, responding to questions from committee members regarding the possibility of non-payment of EU subsidies, he maintained that “we are working intensively to prevent this risk” and noted that “we will be able to meet payment deadlines in both October and December“. Characteristically, when answering a question from KKE’s Nikos Karathanassopoulos about whether the European Public Prosecutor’s Office continues investigations at OPEKEPE, the interim organization president emphasized that “whatever documents are requested will be provided immediately“.
