A new trial connected to the ongoing OPEKEPE scandal – involving Greece’s agency that manages EU agricultural subsidies – has begun in an Athens court. The defendants are former OPEKEPE president Dimitris Melas and former director Athanasia Reppa, who oversaw technical audits and the allocation of the national reserve.

Both face charges of document misappropriation, aiding a criminal, and breach of duty, in relation to their handling of audit findings on grazing-land subsidy applications during 2019–2020. The case forms part of a broader effort by Greek and European authorities to clarify how Common Agricultural Policy funds, worth roughly €3 billion annually to Greek farmers, were distributed and monitored.

The court heard testimony from Paraskevi (Vivi) Tycherepoulou, former head of OPEKEPE’s Direct Payments and Market Support Directorate, who assisted the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in its investigation of alleged subsidy fraud. During her court appearance, she described the internal checks she carried out in 2020, saying she was tasked by then-president Grigoris Varras to investigate suspicious applications within the national reserve program.

“Every year, around 650,000 subsidy applications are submitted by farmers,” Tycheropoulou told the court, “of which about 550,000 are approved.” She said her review of 99 tax IDs revealed serious irregularities, such as applicants declaring land they did not own as well as pastures that changed hands yearly.

Tycheropoulou said she compiled her findings in a formal report intended for judicial authorities. However, in November 2020, after Varras left his post, she was instructed by OPEKEPE’s management to deliver the audit files to Melas and Reppa. “I handed them over on November 17,” she testified. “From that moment, I lost access to the electronic system. The audit forms I had uploaded began multiplying and showed different results from mine.”

Asked by the presiding judge what she meant by “multiplying,” she replied: “I had entered one audit report, and suddenly there were eight under my name with different conclusions. All my audits were sent back for re-checking.”

Tycheropoulou told the court she did not initially suspect wrongdoing but later received threats from one of the farmers under investigation. “He told me angrily that if his household was going to be ruined, he would be the one to do it,” she said.

Regarding the two defendants, the witness stated she had not been directly pressured by Melas or Reppa but described an atmosphere of professional exclusion. “I was sidelined. People said I was ‘crazy’ and was causing problems to the agency,” she noted. Tycheropoulou also mentioned that there is a culture of fear in OPEKEP where colleagues feared speaking openly.

The hearing is set to continue with further testimony this week as the court examines the chain of responsibility for how the disputed audits were handled.