Court upgrades Melas-Reppas case to felony at OPEKEPE
The three-member Misdemeanours Court of Athens ordered the trial of the former OPEKEPE president and former head of inspections on document concealment charges at felony level.
Court upgrades Melas-Reppas case to felony at OPEKEPE
The judicial proceedings against former OPEKEPE head Dimitris Melas and former Technical Inspections supervisor Athanasia Reppas have escalated, with the Misdemeanours Court of Athens deciding to refer them to the Felony Court of Appeal for the offence of document concealment.
The decision was taken following a relevant public prosecutor's recommendation, which argued that the total damage exceeded €120,000. The two defendants are alleged to have concealed an audit authority report which identified false declarations by eighty subsidy beneficiaries.
In parallel, the court convicted them of aiding a criminal and dereliction of duty, whilst acknowledging the mitigating factor of their previous honest conduct. One judge dissented from the decision.
Prosecutor Anastasios Panagakos argued that the defendants deliberately suppressed the report concerning forty-one businesses with problems, in order to allow the offenders to avoid inspection. Reppas is alleged to have characterised the report as unlawful in writing.
The case concerns irregularities in declarations by business owners for the years 2019 and 2020, as confirmed by testimony before the court.
Source: Newsit.gr
Source: Newsit.gr