In Greece, Kövesi’s team is investigating dozens of cases, including alleged misappropriation of EU funds in connection with a train accident in Tempi that caused the deaths of 57 people. Greece’s conservative New Democracy government rejected EPPO’s call for action against two former ministers after the crash.
“Corruption can kill. Tempi is one of those examples,” she repeated.
The government also blocked a probe into ministers allegedly involved in the snowballing farm fraud. EPPO is investigating how the scheme involved businesspeople, political figures and people working at the organization responsible for overseeing the distribution of the EU subsidies, a state agency called OPEKEPE.
“OPEKEPE has become the acronym for corruption, nepotism and clientelism,” she said during the press conference. “Just like in the Tempi case, this criminal investigation could not develop its full reach because of the Greek constitution.”
Based on a peculiarity of the Greek constitution, only the national parliament has the power to investigate and prosecute members or former members of the Greek government. EPPO has raised the issue with the European Commission, as well as with the Greek authorities and said it had received assurances that this provision would change.
Asked about the ongoing investigation in the Greek parliament, the EU’s top prosecutor referred to high-profile attempts to intimidate her investigators in Greece.
“Justice cannot become a TV reality show. A cat with a bell cannot catch mice,” she said. “EPPO is here to stay. Despite intimidation attempts we are very proud of the EPPO team in Athens.”