Nine hours and five minutes—that’s how long Paraskevi Tycheropoulou, former head of the Direct Subsidies Department at OPEKEPE (Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid), testified before the parliamentary investigative committee. Tycheropoulou, considered a “key” witness in the OPEKEPE scandal investigation, directly implicated former OPEKEPE president Kyriakos Babasidis as the orchestrator of efforts to ensure normal payment of five blocked tax identification numbers (TINs) related to “Frappe” Georgios Xylouris and his relatives.
She specifically accused Babasidis of attempting to obstruct her testimony to the Financial Police through phone interference. “He had no desire to see me or listen to me, even though he was the one who appointed me to that position,” she said characteristically about Kyriakos Babasidis, while also taking shots at former OPEKEPE president Nikos Salatas, claiming “he’s an elderly man, perhaps he was confused. His advanced age might justify this.”
New chapter in OPEKEPE scandal: “Frappe’s” relatives declared non-existent farmlands
Particularly shocking was Tycheropoulou’s presentation of a document showing she had informed then-vice president Kyriakos Babasidis about false declarations submitted by “Frappe” Georgios Xylouris. According to the document sent to OPEKEPE management, five relatives of “Frappe” declared farmlands in locations that didn’t exist.
According to audit findings:
Aikaterini Xylouris declared three agricultural plots in Chios, two as olive groves, although inspection revealed no such cultivation exists. Additionally, she declared one plot for animal feed, while the location actually contains vineyards.
Ms. Kallergi reportedly declared ownership of an agricultural plot in Paros, which actually belongs to a forest area and is therefore ineligible for subsidies.
Vasilis Xylouris declared two agricultural plots in Paros, totaling 310 acres, as fallow land. However, according to the audit, these are forest areas.
Mr. Kouzourakis also declared agricultural plots in Paros as fallow land, while it was found they remain uncultivated.
Sofia Chrysou appears to have rented an agricultural plot from Mr. Kokkinos in 2022, while in 2023 it changed hands, raising questions about the legitimacy of the declarations.
The document is dated November 30, 2023, while during her testimony she claimed that from early that month, “Frappe” was pressuring the Organization to unblock the TINs. According to her, various findings were discovered during audits, necessitating their blocking. She also said there were instructions for “Frappe” and his relatives to be audited through animal counting without checking the applications they had submitted. She further noted that these specific TINs were paid after she was transferred from the department and Kyriakos Babasidis had assumed the presidency.
The locked cabinet
Regarding the locked cabinet that OPEKEPE officials had to unlock by breaking its padlock, she commented: “The cabinet on the 5th floor didn’t have a lock, it had small rings where I placed a small padlock. I kept my personal belongings and my children’s drawings there. The cabinet didn’t contain internal audit files. They were my personal items and documents, and some work I had done as a special scientific collaborator. I refused to hand over the contents and submit to this humiliating procedure, knowing that only my personal items were inside.” She also emphasized that threats were made against her and her colleague Mr. Kaliouris and his family, as she had sent all the fraud evidence to OPEKEPE’s general director.
When Makarios Lazaridis and Milena Apostolaki asked who was threatening her, she replied that “the entire Babasidis administration instilled fear in her, as well as Xylouris, who found her home phone number and spoke with her children.”
After completing her testimony, she described to parliamentary reporters the incident of receiving a phone call at home from “Frappe” Georgios Xylouris. Specifically, Tycheropoulou mentioned that when Georgios Xylouris called her home, one of her children answered the phone. She said he didn’t say anything inappropriate to her child, simply asked for her. When she took the receiver, she realized it was him. When parliamentary reporters asked if she received threats, she answered affirmatively, adding that she didn’t want to say more.
Additionally, she described an environment where “whoever reacted was stigmatized as crazy or obsessive,” noting she was “the black sheep of the organization,” while simultaneously denouncing cases of document falsification and audit manipulation within OPEKEPE’s information system, without her having the right to intervene.
Tycheropoulou: “Avgenakis didn’t want to know me or meet me”
She also took shots at former Agricultural Development Minister Lefteris Avgenakis. According to Tycheropoulou, pressure to pay blocked TINs increased when Lefteris Avgenakis became minister, implying he knew about the complaints. “Avgenakis knew. I saw him once when he took office with the management. He said he didn’t know me and didn’t want to know me,” she stated characteristically. “Xylouris’s visits intensified with Avgenakis’s assumption of duties,” she testified elsewhere, while noting that when Avgenakis became minister, there was an “invasion of Cretans” at OPEKEPE. Regarding her relationship with other ministers, she credited Georgios Georganta with attempting to “cleanse” OPEKEPE. She also mentioned that “Tsiaras told me: ‘if I sign your secondment, it’s like validating you.’ I hadn’t informed Mr. Voridis; we hadn’t worked together.”
“I shouldn’t have said ‘let OPEKEPE function’ in front of Avgenakis at the ministry”
Asked to respond to a question from Larissa PASOK MP Evangelia Liakouli, she claimed “I shouldn’t have said inside the Agricultural Development Ministry and in front of Lefteris Avgenakis, ‘let OPEKEPE function.'” “That was my big mistake,” she added, explaining she was targeted by political leadership that fully knew about the illegalities occurring in the Organization.
The blocked TINs
Referring to blocked TINs, she claimed “when I took over, I found 2,021 TINs and the department employees had started auditing them, concerning national reserve and pasture allocation without animals,” adding “in total, the TINs I handed over as blocked were over 5,000.” “Under Pappa’s administration, I submitted proposals for audit improvements. I had suggested the technical solution remain stable for livestock farmers maintaining stable animal capital,” she also said, while noting “at intervals, I was asked for additional clarifications about the audits I had conducted.” She subsequently mentioned “unlike previous officials, I have the habit of keeping the oath I give.”
“I realize what danger I’ve been exposed to” – New Democracy speaks of testimony without evidence, names and addresses
Throughout her nine-hour testimony, she described a climate of targeting, threats, and intimidation against her. “Yes, I’m afraid. I can’t say I’m not afraid,” she said, responding to a question. During the session, the leader of Course of Freedom replaced Alexandros Kazamias. When she asked Tycheropoulou about the controversial dialogue in the OPEKEPE case file between “Frappe” and Kyriakos Babasidis, she replied characteristically: “I realize what danger I’ve been exposed to. It means you don’t respect and don’t care about any living being.”
New Democracy sources claimed the witness appeared “without substantial answers to the critical questions posed.” “It’s characteristic that her testimony raised more questions than it solved, as she moved along lines of personal vindication, without clear explanations for her actions as OPEKEPE department head,” the same sources noted, commenting she “refused to give direct answers about the case of the 78-year-old woman from Kozani, for whom the prosecutor seeks return of nearly 1,000,000 euros” and claimed “she was right to pay.” At the same time, “blue” sources referred to her testimony about closed application groups from specific regions or rural development codes, noting she “confirmed the pathologies that chronically undermined OPEKEPE’s function and which the New Democracy government tries to eliminate through institutional interventions, payment transparency and strict audits.”
Concluding her lengthy testimony, Tycheropoulou emphasized that what she experienced wasn’t just personal differences, but a broader power system within OPEKEPE. “The system is all-powerful and can spread fear. The dialogues between Babasidis and Xylouris in the case file confirm this,” she said characteristically.
Konstantopoulou requested Tycheropoulou’s OPEKEPE testimony be forwarded to prosecutors
Finally, Course of Freedom leader Zoe Konstantopoulou submitted a request to investigative committee president Andreas Nikolakopoulos to forward the minutes of Paraskevi Tycheropoulou’s testimony to prosecutors. At the end of Tycheropoulou’s testimony, the Course of Freedom leader requested that—based on articles 38 and 39 of the criminal procedure code—today’s session minutes be forwarded because her life is threatened.
“The witness expressed fears for her life. From her testimony and everything she mentioned about threats to her life, it appears she’s a target of a criminal organization because she played a decisive role in revealing the truth,” she stated characteristically. Andreas Nikolakopoulos responded that all sessions are open and everything will be forwarded to prosecutorial authorities.
