Inspectors of the European Anti-Fraud Office (Olaf) on Monday conducted an on-site investigation at the main offices of the disgraced and now disbanded Greek Payment Authority of Common Agricultural Policy (OPEKEPE).
Specifically, the Olaf team was reportedly scrutinizing subsidy and compensation payments over the 2014-2025 period.
Reports out of Athens have the European agency demanding that all OPEKEPE staff be available to facilitate the investigation.
OPEKEPE was abolished and absorbed into the independent tax bureau last May, amid an ongoing investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) into a multi-million-euro scam involving fraudulent claims.
In an announcement on its website at the time, the European Prosecutor’s Office 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).”
