The government on Tuesday afternoon announced the immediate abolition of the Greek Payment Authority of Common Agricultural Policy – known as OPEKEPE – and its absorption into the independent tax bureau, amid an ongoing investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) into a multi-million-euro scam involving fraudulent claims.
The announcement came after a high-level meeting chaired by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis himself with relevant ministers and the tax bureau’s chief, Giorgios Pitsilis .The tax bureau is officially called the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (IAPR).
The staff of the agency, which operated under the jurisdiction of the food and rural development ministry, will be transferred to IAPR.
In an announcement on its website last week, EPPO said it was investigating “OPEKEPE officials over alleged organized agricultural subsidy fraud and corruption”, while adding that “…such illegal practice may have been organized in a systematic manner with the involvement of members of the Board of Directors and officials of the Greek Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aids (OPEKEPE).”
Additionally, EPPO investigators in Athens reported that the attempt to gather evidence at two OPEKEPE offices proved “particularly challenging and was significantly delayed…”
In an attempt to deflect the fallout in the wake of the European prosecutor’s office investigation into the massive farm sector-related fraud, the government on Tuesday promised multiple physical and digital checking and cross-checking of claims for compensation filed by farmers and stockbreeders and increased scrutiny over payments, all of which will now be under jurisdiction of the independent tax bureau’s auspices.
