- Across the five cases investigated so far, the number of defendants stands at 1,151 and the total financial damage exceeds €17 million.
- Which European Public Prosecutor’s Office investigations are open, who is in the crosshairs, and why.
by Vangelis Triantis
Dozens of cases have been referred to the courts in connection with the OPEKEPE scandal, which involves the alleged unlawful payment of subsidies to farmers and livestock breeders. Over the past few months, the Greek Police (ELAS) have dismantled five criminal organisations operating from Crete to northern Greece. According to figures that have come to light, the defendants in these five cases alone number 1,151, with total financial damage exceeding €17 million. Meanwhile, first-instance convictions for OPEKEPE subsidy fraud have already been handed down, while the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) continues its investigations. Today, Data Journalists presents eight questions and answers regarding the EPPO’s investigations into political figures and private individuals. One thing is certain: the OPEKEPE scandal is far from over, and further developments are expected.
1) What is the OPEKEPE scandal?
The OPEKEPE scandal concerns subsidies paid to producers for grazing land that was declared as having no livestock, from 2019 onwards. Following complaints lodged with national authorities, the case was referred to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) on the grounds of alleged fraud involving EU subsidies. The former head of OPEKEPE, Professor Grigoris Varras, also submitted a series of complaints to prosecutorial authorities. Following his departure from the agency, he now serves as a political appointee in the Prime Minister’s office. The referrals to the judiciary were based on findings drawn up by Paraskevi Tycheropoulos, the former Head of Internal Audits at OPEKEPE. She has since been targeted by successive OPEKEPE administrations and is no longer with the agency, having been transferred to the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE).
ΟΠΕΚΕΠΕ: Οι παρεμβάσεις Αυγενάκη και Τσιάρα στα οικολογικά σχήματα υπέρ της εκλογικής πελατείας
2) How did the involvement of Voridis and Avgenakis come to light?
In June 2025, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office sent a substantial case file to the Greek Parliament as part of the preliminary investigation into the OPEKEPE scandal. During their investigation, the European prosecutors came across the names of two former Ministers of Rural Development: Lefteris Avgenakis and Makis Voridis. According to Article 86 of the Constitution (the Ministerial Accountability Act), the case file had to be sent to Parliament without delay via the Supreme Court Prosecutor’s Office. In the covering letter accompanying the transmission to Parliament, the European prosecutors recommended that the two former ministers be investigated for breach of fiduciary duty.
3) Were the ministers ultimately investigated by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office?
No, they were not investigated by the EPPO. In late July 2025, Parliament voted in favour of establishing a Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry by 166 votes to examine all the institutional failings of OPEKEPE from 1998 to the present day. The opposition parties had called for the establishment of a Preliminary Investigation Committee to look into any potential criminal liability on the part of the two former Ministers of Rural Development. However, this proposal was rejected, provoking an angry backlash from opposition party leaders. The Committee of Inquiry began its proceedings in September 2025. It concluded in February 2026, with the parties issuing separate findings. The New Democracy report concluded that Makis Voridis and Lefteris Avgenakis could not be held criminally liable for their handling of the OPEKEPE affair. However, it simultaneously apportioned blame to PASOK and SYRIZA for the regulatory framework within which the agency had been operating.
4) Has the case been closed for non-political figures?
The extensive case file sent to Parliament in June 2025 included various non-political figures, including individuals who had served on OPEKEPE’s governing boards since 2019, as well as farmers, livestock breeders, Ministry of Rural Development officials, OPEKEPE technical advisers, Declaration Reception Centre owners, and others. For these individuals, however, the case is far from closed. An ongoing investigation is being conducted into possible offences, including breach of fiduciary duty against the financial interests of the European Union, aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty, instigating breach of fiduciary duty and participating in a criminal organisation. The investigation is not confined to the period from 2019 to 2022, but reportedly extends as far as 2025. The case file includes intercepted conversations recorded by Greek police wiretaps between the individuals involved. The central question is whether the evidence in the possession of the European Public Prosecutor is sufficient to prove participation in a criminal organisation and which individuals are implicated.
5) What is happening with the 11 + 2 political figures from New Democracy?
In addition to former Ministers of Rural Development Voridis and Avgenakis, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office transmitted to Parliament in early April a case file concerning a number of political figures. These were New Democracy MPs and former ministers who were alleged to have intervened — either personally or through associates — with OPEKEPE in 2021, in order to secure subsidies for producers in their constituencies. The EPPO requested the lifting of the MPs’ parliamentary immunity, which was duly granted. More specifically, former Transport Minister and New Democracy MP Kostas Ach. Karamanlis and New Democracy MP for Trikala Katerina Papakosta are under investigation for the felony of fraud. Under investigation for misdemeanour offences are New Democracy MPs Kostas Tsiaras, Notis Mitarakis, Kostas Skrekas, Dimitris Vartzopoulos, Yannis Kefalogiannis, Theophilos Leontaridis, Vasilis Vasiliadis, Maximos Senetakis, and Christos Boukoros. The MPs have already provided explanations to the EPPO, either in person or through memoranda submitted by their lawyers, denying having engaged in any unlawful act.
A further case file had been transmitted to Parliament concerning New Democracy MPs Charalampos Athanasiou and Tasos Chatzivasileiou, as indications had apparently emerged of instigation of breach of duty, with the former President of OPEKEPE, Dimitris Melas, named as the alleged direct perpetrator. The two MPs gave explanations in the capacity of suspects, following the lifting of their parliamentary immunity. However, the First Instance Prosecutor who examined the case concluded that no indications of criminal conduct on the part of the two MPs had emerged, and archived the case file that had been formed.
Σκάνδαλο ΟΠΕΚΕΠΕ: Νέα «βόμβα» για κομπίνες 40 εκατ. ευρώ – Μπλόκο σε 40.000 ΑΦΜ
6) Have the European Public Prosecutor’s investigations been concluded?
No, the EPPO’s investigations into the OPEKEPE scandal are ongoing. The European Chief Prosecutor, Laura Kövesi, has repeatedly stated that further alleged cases of fraud relating to agricultural funds and OPEKEPE in Greece are under investigation. According to the information available, one case file is at an advanced stage and concerns subsidies disbursed by OPEKEPE in 2022. It has also been alleged that political figures are involved in this case. These are subsidies granted through the national reserve for grazing land that was declared as having no livestock, and they have now come under the EPPO’s scrutiny. The EPPO’s investigations into OPEKEPE subsidies extend as far as 2025. Therefore, it is possible that new developments in the OPEKEPE scandal will emerge during the ongoing investigations.
7) Is there an ongoing investigation into OPEKEPE’s eco-schemes?
Yes. As Data Journalists had previously revealed, there is an ongoing investigation into OPEKEPE’s eco-schemes, which are subsidies granted to producers from 2023 onwards. These are subsidised programmes that fall under the Common Agricultural Policy for the period from 2023 to 2027. They provide incentives and support to encourage producers to adopt environmentally friendly farming practices. In recent months, dozens of individuals have been summoned to appear before the EPPO as witnesses. Among them are farmers, representatives of cooperative organisations, senior OPEKEPE and Ministry of Rural Development officials, certification body representatives, and others. According to available information, prosecutors are investigating whether EU funds intended for producers implementing environmentally friendly farming practices were unlawfully channelled to those with no connection to the eco-schemes. Judging by the case files that remain open, the eco-schemes strand is indeed considered one of the most serious aspects of the OPEKEPE case currently under the European prosecutors’ microscope.
Σκάνδαλο ΟΠΕΚΕΠΕ: Με εντολή υπουργού πλήρωσαν 63,875 εκατ. ευρώ σε 6.404 δεσμευμένα ΑΦΜ
8) Are senior OPEKEPE officials under investigation?
Yes. Senior OPEKEPE officials currently serving in the General Directorate of Audits, Support Measures and Payments of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) — the so-called ‘new OPEKEPE’ — are under the European prosecutors’ microscope. Specifically, the EPPO has summoned certain senior officials to make an unsworn statement as suspects for committing the offence of breach of fiduciary duty at a felony level. A further eight senior officials are included in the case file concerning OPEKEPE that was transmitted to Parliament in June 2025. These individuals either appear in lawfully obtained intercepts contained in the case file or are recorded speaking directly with individuals under investigation. They are also being investigated by the EPPO for offences of both a felony and misdemeanour nature.
9) Have any convictions been handed down in fraud cases that have gone before the courts?
Yes, convictions have already been handed down in cases of alleged subsidy fraud involving OPEKEPE. On July 29, 2025, for example, the Single-Member Court of Appeal for Felonies convicted seven defendants and imposed custodial sentences ranging from 9 to 15 months for receiving unlawful subsidies in 2019. This case concerned grazing land in the Grammos region, where the individuals who had applied for subsidies were close relatives of the owner of a Declaration Reception Centre (KYD). The case is currently being heard on appeal.
On November 26, 2025, a second conviction was handed down by the Single-Member Court of First Instance (Misdemeanour Division) of Athens, which convicted 14 defendants and imposed custodial sentences ranging from 10 to 18 months. The case concerned unlawful OPEKEPE subsidies in Crete in 2020. The court ordered a three-year suspension of all sentences, meaning that all those convicted remained free.
Another case involving unlawful subsidies resulted in a conviction in late May. The Three-Member Court of Appeal for Felonies in Athens found 13 individuals guilty of unlawful OPEKEPE subsidies in the Serres region, totalling approximately €250,000. Those for whom the mitigating circumstance of a law-abiding life was recognised received sentences ranging from 5 to 26 months, suspended for three years. Originally, 32 individuals were committed to stand trial, but seven of the defendants proceeded with plea bargaining and repaid the sums they had received as subsidies.
