Convictions for OPEKEPE fraud: 19 Cretan producers with false land declarations
A three-member misdemeanour court convicted 19 producers from Crete of fraud, with subsidies of €25,000–€80,000 obtained through false land area declarations to OPEKEPE.
Prison sentences and fines imposed on 19 producers for phantom subsidies
The three-member misdemeanour court imposed prison sentences of one to two years with three-year suspension on 15 defendants and monetary penalties on four others, according to businessdaily.gr. The case concerns producers from Crete who submitted false land area declarations to OPEKEPE, claiming fictitious use of land in remote areas of the country.
Fourteen of the defendants were found guilty as primary perpetrators of fraud relating to grants. The amounts illegally obtained during the years 2019–2020 ranged from €25,000 to €80,000 per case.
The defendants had falsely presented themselves as owners or lessees of land on islands such as Andros, Kasos, Kalymnos and Nisyros, as well as in mainland areas such as Florina. Some of the land belonged to the state, whilst other areas had never been declared by the purported owners.
Five defendants were convicted as simple accomplices. One was handed a one-year prison sentence with suspension, whilst the other four received monetary penalties of €8,500 to €11,000.
By majority, the court recognised lawful conduct as a mitigating factor in 18 of the 19 convicted defendants, despite the prosecutor's proposal that no mitigating factors should be recognised. The case file had been formed by European Prosecutors as part of a broader investigation into OPEKEPE.
Source: Google News GR — Crime (el)