The Athens Court of First Instance Prosecutor has moved to drop the case against two sitting New Democracy MPs, Charalampos Athanasiou and Tasos Chatzivasileiou, linked to the OPEKEPE agricultural subsidy scandal, rhaving concluded that the evidence fell short of the threshold needed to pursue charges against sitting lawmakers.

OPEKEPE, the now-defunct Greek Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid, sits at the center of one of Greece’s largest corruption investigations in recent years, with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office having previously sought to lift the immunity of 13 New Democracy MPs in connection with alleged irregularities at the agency.

The prosecutor assigned to evaluate the evidence concluded that the charge of moral instigation in breach of duty could not be established against the two lawmakers. Since the charge did not meet the legal threshold required, there was no basis to refer the matter to parliament, the body constitutionally empowered to authorize immunity proceedings against sitting members.

Using identical reasoning, the prosecutor also found that the conditions for physical instigation in breach of duty were not met in the case of Dimitris Melas, who served as OPEKEPE president in 2021 and had initially been identified as the principal perpetrator in the investigation.

A second layer of review

The case is not definitively closed. Greek law requires the decision to be reviewed by a senior prosecutor before it can take effect. The file has already been forwarded to the Athens Court of Appeals Prosecutor, who will now examine the evidence independently and either confirm or overturn the decision.

How the case reached Greek courts

The file was handed to Greek prosecutors after the European Public Prosecutor’s Office ruled it had no jurisdiction over the breach of duty charge. It is those prosecutors who are now moving to close the case.