Three men accused of running an illegal farm subsidy scheme in the Kozani area of northern Greece have been remanded in custody in the latest case to grow out of a widening fraud investigation tied to OPEKEPE, the now defunct agency that distributed European Union agricultural aid in Greece.
Fourteen defendants testified in this Kozani-centered iteration of the OPEKEPE farm subsidy scandal. The three remanded in custody are the alleged ringleader, a farmer, and an employee of one of the offices that process farm subsidy claims. The remaining 11 were released under restrictive conditions that in some cases include travel bans and in others bail ranging from 5,000 to 15,000 euros.
All face charges of forming, joining or directing a criminal organization, along with fraud and money laundering.
Prosecutors say the group operated unimpeded from at least 2019 to 2025, claiming agricultural subsidies it was not entitled to through OPEKEPE. The agency has become the focus of a broad fraud inquiry that EPPO, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, has been pursuing across the country alongside national authorities.
The scheme is estimated to have netted more than 2.4 million euros. The financial investigation also pointed to tax offenses worth about 2.7 million euros.
