OPEKEPE Fraud: European Prosecutor Seeks Conviction of 22 Defendants
The assigned European Prosecutor Dionysios Mouzakis recommended the conviction of 22 defendants for fraud involving OPEKEPE subsidies.
European Prosecutor: "Guilt is fully proven" in OPEKEPE subsidy fraud
The assigned European Prosecutor Dionysios Mouzakis recommended the conviction of 22 defendants for fraud against OPEKEPE, according to Dikastiko.gr. In the prosecutorial proposal, it is noted that the defendants submitted false declarations of land areas in order to receive agricultural subsidies to which they were not entitled.
Recurring pattern in declarations
Mouzakis identified common characteristics in the defendants' declarations. In the majority of cases, producers from Crete appeared to own or lease land areas in other regions of the country, yet were not actually active there in practice.
"Usually these were producers who declared land areas for the first time, the areas were outside Crete, and the leased agricultural plots were declared for the first time by the purported owners in their property statements of the year in which they leased them to others," said the European Prosecutor, describing how the scheme operated.
The "technical solution" at the centre
The so-called "technical solution" of OPEKEPE played a central role in the case, according to Mouzakis — a system that allowed the declaration of land areas in regions different from those where the producers were actually active.
"The technical solution is at the heart of OPEKEPE's problem because it allowed farmers to borrow from other areas when there were no grazing lands," the prosecutor stated. He linked the use of this procedure to the increase in the number of goats and sheep and the need to secure grazing land to legitimise subsidies.
Forged leases and non-existent agricultural activity
In many cases, according to the charge, the land areas were declared as leased with forged documents. At the same time, the land areas that appeared to be owned or leased in fact belonged either to the state or to third parties, and not to the declared owners.
"It did not emerge that the defendants engaged in any agricultural activity to be entitled to receive subsidies; these were areas very far from their place of residence," Mouzakis emphasised. He added that it was not proven that livestock was transferred to the areas where the leases were declared, nor that the required agricultural work was carried out.
"Guilt is fully proven"
In the conclusion of his proposal, the European Prosecutor was emphatic. "To summarise, all 16 of the first defendants submitted false declarations to OPEKEPE, given that those declared as owners of the land areas did not in fact have those land areas in their possession," he said characteristically.
"In my opinion, the guilt of all 22 defendants, as charged, is fully proven," Mouzakis concluded, asking the court to issue a conviction for all the defendants.
Source: Dikastiko.gr