Prosecutor implicates two Greek ministers in huge EU farm fraud

ATHENS — The European Public Prosecutor’s Office alleged Thursday that two Greek government ministers were complicit in a major scheme to defraud the EU farm budget and said it had referred the matter to the national parliament.

The announcement from the EPPO came days after Brussels hit Athens with hundreds of millions of euros in fines over a multi-year scam in which Greek citizens received EU agricultural funds for pastureland they did not own or had not leased, or for agricultural work they never performed, depriving real farmers of the cash they were entitled to.

The mega-fraud — the subject of an investigation by POLITICO earlier this year — has already prompted the government to shut down the state agency responsible for distributing billions in EU farm subsidies.

In its latest intervention in the case, the EPPO said it had referred information regarding the alleged involvement “in criminal offenses” of two former ministers overseeing the rural development and food portfolio to the Hellenic parliament.

“During this investigation, information emerged concerning the possible involvement of two former Ministers in aiding and instigating the misappropriation (breach of trust) of EU agricultural funds during the exercise of their official duties,” the EPPO said in a statement.

The statement did not name the ministers but Greek and EU officials, granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, said it referred to Makis Voridis, who was agriculture minister from 2021 to 2023 and is now migration minister, and Lefteris Avgenakis, who was agriculture minister from 2023 to 2024 and is now an MP.

Voridis, in a social media post, said:  “I have not committed any criminal act in the course of my duties.” He would comment further once aware of the file. Avgenakis did not respond to a request for comment.

In the scam, straw men — typically from Crete — were able to fraudulently obtain EU funding for pastureland because the now-defunct OPEKEPE, Greece’s payment agency for EU community aid, did not require proof of ownership to disburse the funds. When an internal auditor at the agency blew the whistle, she was sidelined.

Meanwhile, when top OPEKEPE bosses did investigate the matter, they were forced out on more than one occasion by the agriculture minister of the day.

Under Greek law, only the national parliament has the power to investigate and prosecute serving or former members of the Greek government. That means that although the EPPO was created with a broad mandate to investigate the misuse of EU funds, it lacks the power to press such cases in Greece. The agency has called this a violation of its founding EU regulation.

“This makes it impossible for the EPPO to fully carry out its tasks and forced the split of its ongoing investigation for what concerns the possible criminal liability of members of the Greek government,” the agency said.

“This limits the EPPO’s competence, in breach of the EPPO regulation. As this is a matter of compatibility between EU and national law, the EPPO has already reported this to the European Commission.”

European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi has vowed to press ahead with the probe despite what she described as “attacks” and “intimidation” against her staff.

Her comments from last month followed dramatic scenes in which EPPO investigators encountered physical resistance from OPEKEPE staff while searching its premises. The government was then forced to fire the agency’s president for failing to cooperate and to announce it would shut down the organization.

The European Commission hit Greece with fines of nearly €400 million last week for mismanaging EU farm funding and inadequate controls. Greek and EU officials expect more to follow.

This story has been updated.