While fraudulent applicants have already been brought to court, nobody at the organization has been charged. On the contrary, each time authorities at the agency tried to take action to dismantle the scam, they were forced out by the agriculture minister of the day.
The misappropriated funds could amount to €45 million a year, in one of the biggest farming frauds of recent years. The scheme has come to light before the EU begins discussions this year to set a new mid-term budget from 2028 to 2034. The Greek scandal is sure to give fresh ammunition to critics of the Common Agricultural Policy, known as CAP, which accounts for a third of the EU’s €1.3 trillion, seven-year budget.
Since its inception more than 60 years ago, CAP funding has been mostly tied to land area. Such entitlements are wide open to abuse, as the Greek scheme shows, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is pushing for the money to be better spent. Yet the bloc’s top farm official, Christophe Hansen, wants to keep the link between land and money — while EU countries oppose fundamental reform.
One of the first to notice the irregularities was the head of OPEKEPE’s Internal Audit Department, Paraskevi Tycheropoulou. Her superiors responded by sidelining her — shutting her out of the organization’s databases and locking her out of her office.
She has since been invited by EPPO to assist its inquiries and advise on technical and legal issues.
“Tycheropoulou’s methodology led to the uncovering of an extensive ring which, through false declarations of ownership, illegally received EU aid through the national reserve,” her lawyer, Antonis Vagianos, told POLITICO.