- In 2019, Makis Voridis, the then-Minister of Rural Development and Food, signed a confidential document giving livestock farmers from Crete, Thessaly, and Samothrace the green light to declare pastureland in Kos, Rhodes, Western Macedonia, and other regions of the country.
- As the scandal intensified in 2022, the Legal Service “shielded the fraudsters” by issuing a negative opinion on the auditors’ request to use land registry data for cross-checks. This data would have enabled long-term ownership verification and prevented fraudulent claims.
- The European Public Prosecutor’s Office is now scrutinizing subsidies granted between 2017 and 2024.
By Vangelis Triantis
Data Journalists have published explosive documents related to the subsidy scandal involving the use of pastureland by producers from 2017 to the present. The subsidies were issued by the Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid (OPEKEPE). Among the documents is a 2022 OPEKEPE Legal Service document providing an opinion on the use of land registry (Cadastre) data by agency inspectors during cross-checks of subsidy applications. With access to the Cadastre, OPEKEPE inspectors could review the long-term ownership history of pasturelands declared by producers to secure subsidies, allowing them to detect and eliminate fraud. However, the Legal Service issued a negative opinion on the use of Cadastre data. Consequently, inspectors continued to verify property ownership using only the E9 tax form submitted by applicants for the specific year they applied for the subsidy. This prevented them from examining prior years. In short, the Legal Service rejected the use of a tool that could have prevented the ongoing misuse of EU subsidies funneled through OPEKEPE.
A 2019 document signed by Makis Voridis, the former Minister of Rural Development, is raising serious questions about the allocation of eligible pastureland. The document clearly shows that Voridis allowed livestock farmers from Crete, Thessaly, and other regions to “migrate” to different parts of the country and submit subsidy applications for pastureland there. But let’s start from the beginning.
The Legal Service’s rejection
In February 2022, OPEKEPE’s Legal Service submitted a written response to the Agency’s Directorate of Technical Inspections. This response followed a series of questions submitted to the Legal Service regarding “declared areas in the 2021 Single Aid Applications (SAAs) located within parcels registered in the Hellenic Cadastre.” OPEKEPE inspectors initially raised these questions in February 2021, asking whether Cadastre records could be used to exclude EU subsidy payments in certain cases. In other words, the inspectors wanted to know if they could review applicants’ property status from previous years to determine if there was evidence of potential fraud. The inspectors had noted that pastureland often changed owners and leaseholders from year to year, which raised further suspicions of possible fraudulent activity.
In response to this question, the Legal Service referred the inspectors to the legislation governing the Hellenic Cadastre and the conditions under which Cadastre entries are considered “final” or can be challenged by a court. However, when it came to the crucial question of whether inspectors could reject applications based on cadastre data, the Legal Service effectively “threw in the towel,” declaring that it had “no jurisdiction.”
The Legal Service was negative regarding the use of Cadastre records that are still in the posting phase and have not been finalized. The Legal Service noted that, during the posting phase, anyone with a legitimate interest may request a correction to a Cadastre entry. As a result, the provisional Cadastre data may be revised to complete the cadastral registration process.
“…Therefore, until the Cadastre becomes fully operational in each region, the collected data regarding declared properties and the rights attached to them will remain under review. Any use of this information could be considered unreliable,” the Legal Service’s opinion states.
The inspectors submitted a third question to the Legal Service concerning the procedure to be followed if OPEKEPE receives objections from “beneficiaries who were excluded from payment.” They asked whether OPEKEPE or the Cadastre would review such objections and whether OPEKEPE was obligated to examine them and what kind of supporting documentation was required.
Once again, the Legal Service “washed its hands of the matter.” In its written response, the Legal Service stated: “The primary issue to address is whether beneficiaries of EU subsidies can be excluded based on finalized Cadastre records or those still in the posting phase. This is a matter that the Cadastre does not address due to lack of jurisdiction, quite rightly. Given the issue’s significance and the large number of affected beneficiaries, it should be submitted as a formal question to the Joint Legislative Committee to obtain a clear, authoritative opinion.” As a result, inspectors continued to verify property status using only the current year’s E9 tax form, unable to assess what had occurred in previous years regarding pastureland. It’s worth noting that the Legal Service only has an advisory role, meaning the final decision rests with OPEKEPE’s leadership.
The Change in OPEKEPE’s Circular
This opinion from OPEKEPE’s Legal Service followed a series of changes to the guidelines issued to inspectors through internal circulars. These changes, made by certain administrations particularly from 2019 onward, were altered as frequently as clothing. As previously revealed by Data Journalists, administrative checks for the national reserve were conducted based on Circular 85112/2015 up until September 2020.
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According to the circular, OPEKEPE inspectors were only required to check ownership documents for a given plot of land for the year the application was submitted, not for previous years.
This meant that any changes in land ownership could go unnoticed from year to year. However, things changed in October 2020. At that time, Grigoris Varras, now an associate professor at the University of Ioannina, was the president of OPEKEPE. Varras was a personal appointee of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and referred several cases of illegal subsidies granted by OPEKEPE to producers during the period 2017–2020 to the judiciary.
A circular issued by the Varras administration introduced a series of new requirements for verifying ownership documents. Specifically, for privately owned agricultural plots, the inspector had to check the property status certificate (E9) for the year of the subsidy application belonging to the plot’s owner. Additionally, owners had to present proof of legal possession, such as contracts or evidence of registration with the land registry office or a Cadastre number.
For leased agricultural plots, the inspector had to examine rental agreements, the E9 certificate for the year under inspection, Cadastre titles, and related documents.
One year after his appointment, Mr. Varras was removed from his position as president of OPEKEPE at the request of Makis Voridis, the Minister of Rural Development.
In public statements, Mr. Varras linked his dismissal to “organized interests” and “European subsidies.” Shortly after his dismissal, he was appointed special advisor to the Administration and Organization Office of the Prime Minister’s General Secretariat, where he remains to this day. After his removal, the OPEKEPE administration issued a new circular that simplified the conditions and required documentation for inspections.
The damning document targeting Makis Voridis
At the same time, a September 18, 2019 document from OPEKEPE raises questions about the allocation of eligible pastures. The “confidential” document was published by Data Journalists and sent to Makis Voridis, the Minister of Rural Development and Food at the time.
OPEKEPE informed the minister at the time about the “method of pasture allocation” for 2019, which was based on a ministerial decision from 2015. However, an “update to the existing valid allocation” took place during that period (2019). Specifically, OPEKEPE permitted livestock farmers to register pastures in different regions of the country with which they had no direct connection. OPEKEPE cited “the lack of eligible available pastures in certain spatial units” as the reason for this change.
Simply put, OPEKEPE “gave the green light” to livestock farmers in Crete, Thessaly, and Samothrace to declare pastures in Kos, Rhodes, Western Macedonia, and other regions. OPEKEPE’s decision, signed by Makis Voridis himself, is striking because it effectively favors “livestock tourism” for those seeking OPEKEPE subsidies.
Voridis’s decision raises legitimate questions. For example, around 216 livestock farmers from Thessaly were able to declare pastures in Epirus and Western Macedonia to receive EU subsidies.
Similarly, approximately 6,523 alleged farmers from Crete could declare pastures in Western Macedonia, the Peloponnese, Karpathos, and Rhodes. Furthermore, 11 farmers from Samothrace, 178 from Thasos, and four from Paxoi declared pastures in Eastern Macedonia–Thrace, Central Macedonia, and Epirus.
Investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office extending through 2024
Meanwhile, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has been investigating OPEKEPE’s subsidies for pasture use for several months. The investigation focuses on subsidies granted from 2017 through 2024. Just a few days ago, the Greek police conducted raids at OPEKEPE offices in Athens and Crete following orders from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. According to a press release from the Office, the investigation is part of an ongoing inquiry into an alleged organized fraud scheme involving agricultural funds and corruption, which includes public officials from OPEKEPE. According to the statement, illegal practices “may have been systematically organized, involving members of the Board of Directors and OPEKEPE employees.
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