First sentences in OPEKEPE subsidy fraud case in central Greece
A court in Athens on Monday handed down jail sentences to 13 individuals involved in a fraudulent subsidy scheme through Greece’s agricultural payments agency, OPEKEPE, marking the first sentencing in a broader EU funds misuse scandal.
The one-member Misdemeanors Court imposed prison terms ranging from 6 to 40 months for the illegal disbursement of EU agricultural subsidies between 2019 and 2020. The case involved false declarations of grazing land in Fthiotida, Central Greece.
According to the case file, 12 defendants fraudulently claimed EU funds ranging from €26,000 to €91,000 each, with the total amount exceeding €440,000.
The 13th defendant, a former president of the Agricultural Cooperative of Makryrachi, was found to have distributed land to co-defendants—including two siblings linked to a former OPEKEPE official—to support fraudulent subsidy claims. The land, located in the Private Forest of Agoriani and Makryrachi, was falsely presented as contiguous pasture for livestock.
The case is part of a larger investigation into OPEKEPE-related fraud that has triggered fines from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and multiple ongoing court reviews in Athens.
