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The Organization for Payments and Control in Agriculture (ΟΠΕΚΕΠΕ) has issued a statement indicating its intention to pursue legal action. “If Mr. Paschalis does not retract the aforementioned false claims made in the European Prosecutor’s announcement dated May 20, 2025, within 48 hours of this press release, the Organization will seek judicial remedy to restore its reputation,” the statement emphasizes.
Recently, European Prosecutor officials, alongside police, conducted a thorough examination of ΟΠΕΚΕΠΕ’s offices. Computers belonging to senior management were seized in relation to a probe into alleged multi-million Euro fraud. The Organization, responsible for subsidies to farmers and livestock breeders, is under scrutiny for a scandal involving significant sums of EU funds. Non-existent grazing lands, fictitious crops, and agricultural plots located hundreds of kilometers from beneficiaries were facilitating enormous subsidies without any oversight.
ΟΠΕΚΕΠΕ’s Statement
As widely known, on May 19, 2025, from 10 AM to 4 AM the following day, an inspection of ΟΠΕΚΕΠΕ occurred under a prosecutor’s order, successfully aided by the selfless support of its personnel, both supervised and unsupervised.
The European Prosecutor, Mr. N. Paschalis, Assistant Prosecutor of the Appeals Court, issued a statement on May 20, 2025, stating that during the inspection, there was a lack of genuine cooperation from ΟΠΕΚΕΠΕ, and that the inspection’s objectives were only achieved thanks to the assistance of the Greek Police. This statement implies that the Organization did not collaborate with the inspection team. These falsehoods tarnish the Organization’s reputation and indirectly attack its new Management, insinuating their complicity or encouragement of such behavior. If these accusations were true, it would suggest that the new Management sought to obscure any past misdeeds rather than facilitate a proper investigation. However, the reality is quite the opposite; the new Management not only supported the inspection but is willing to assist in any further inquiries needed to ensure transparency. They would prefer that the arrival of the inspectors did not coincide with the arrival of media crews at the Organization’s entrance, as was perhaps coincidentally the case during this inspection.
The narrative presented by the new Management and the commitment made by Minister of Rural Development and Food, Mr. K. Tsiaras, and ΟΠΕΚΕΠΕ President, Mr. N. Salatas, in the presence of the head of the Permanent Greek Representation in Brussels, Ambassador Mr. I. Vrailas, before the EU Agriculture Commissioner, Mr. C. Hansen, and the Director-General of Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission, Mr. W. Burtscher, to combat all forms of corruption, essentially contradicts Mr. Paschalis’s statement.
The slanderous behaviour of the European Prosecutor has further worsened the already precarious situation of the Organization, posing a risk that the relevant announcement from the European Prosecutor’s Office may profoundly impact its accreditation, jeopardizing approximately €3 billion in annual payments to Greek farmers and livestock breeders, with all that entails.
For all these reasons, if Mr. Paschalis does not retract the aforementioned false statements within 48 hours from the issuance of this press release, the Organization will take legal action to restore its reputation.
We are fully confident in our country’s rule of law.
