UPD

Greek Minister of Rural Development and Food Kostas Tsiaras has decided to terminate the term of Nikos Salatas as interim president of the board of directors of OPEKEPE, citing reasons of overriding public interest.

The decision was driven by the need to eliminate any potential doubts regarding the smooth and effective cooperation of the agency with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in the execution of its auditing responsibilities.

Earlier on Friday, Tsiaras called on Nikos Salatas to step down as the president of OPEKEPE, the country’s agency responsible for overseeing and certifying EU agricultural subsidies, following a scandal involving alleged illegal subsidies currently under investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO).

The EPPO had earlier stated that during the course of its investigation, OPEKEPE failed to cooperate transparently- an accusation that Salatas firmly denied. In response, Salatas issued a statement on behalf of the organization demanding a public retraction from the European Prosecutor involved in the case, Nikos Paschalis, a deputy appellate prosecutor. He warned that if the statement alleging “insincere cooperation” was not withdrawn, the OPEKEPE would pursue legal action. Alternatively, Saltas demanded that EPPO specifies which OPEKEPE officials allegedly obstructed its audit.

Salatas went as far as calling to convene a board meeting for Tuesday, May 27, to examine whether the European Prosecutor’s claims, published on May 20, are “false and defamatory” and damaging to the organization’s reputation.

In response, Tsiaras criticized Salatas’ confrontational tone, stating that it was “incompatible with the spirit of cooperation” expected between the Greek government and the European Public Prosecutor. He clarified that the core issue was not the audit itself, but how Salatas had handled the fallout.

“This alone,” Tsiaras concluded, “is reason enough not to allow the wrong message to be sent.”

As part of the audit process, the EPPO carried out spot raids at the offices in Athens and Crete this week. On Wednesday it issued a particularly scathing announcement regarding its ongoing investigation into allegations of “organized fraud” at the Greek Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aids.

EPPO has revealed that the probe involves agricultural funds and public officials in the country. “Gathering digital evidence at the headquarters from the organization proved particularly challenging and was significantly delayed until 4 this morning,” announcement on EPPO’s website read, under a subtitle of “Lack of sincere cooperation.”

It added that the “successful execution” of the searches (in Athens and on Crete) was “only possible thanks to the excellent support” of the Greek Police’s specialized digital and forensic units and the internal affairs service.