Four Greek MPs Indicted in EU Farm Scandal

Four Greek members of parliament from the ruling party were among 22 people indicted on Thursday over a multi-million-euro EU farm subsidy scandal that has rocked the government.

The indicted defendants included “several former high-ranked public officials and political staff, as part of an investigation into an alleged organized fraud scheme involving agricultural funds”, the European prosecutor’s office said.

They have estimated the bloc’s losses from the alleged scheme at more than 19.6 million euros ($22.5 million), while Greek authorities last year put damages at a minimum of 23 million euros.

The scandal has led to the resignation of several Greek government ministers and other officials. Those indicted include a former political secretary of the ruling New Democracy party and several former officials of the state agency distributing the subsidies, OPEKEPE. One is a former chairman of the agency.

Among the lawmakers, accusations include instigation to commit abuse of trust, instigation to unlawful management of EU funds, and instigation to false attestation and attempted computer fraud, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) said.

The lawmakers are under investigation for allegedly enabling dozens of private individuals to make subsidy claims for land they did not own and exaggerating the number of animals on farms.

An EPPO statement said evidence “indicates, among other things, unlawful interventions in administrative and inspection procedures, retrospective alterations of data following the completion of mandatory controls, unlawful interference with on-the-spot inspections, the concealment and manipulation of inspection findings, and false certifications”.

Some people receiving payments had no link to agriculture. Most of the fraudulent subsidies went to Crete. The case has piled pressure on conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, whose family has been politically influential in Crete for more than a century. If found guilty, the defendants face jail terms of up to five years and fines.

Allegations against seven other members of parliament, as well as two former lawmakers, have been dismissed due to lack of evidence, the EPPO said, while three former members of parliament remain under investigation. (AFP)