After the news site Politico conducted research into fraud in the Greek agricultural sector, authorities announced they would initiate their own investigation. Greek Finance Minister Tsiaras said that Athens “cannot jeopardize the flow of European funds” and that “full transparency is essential to ensure subsidies reach those who truly deserve them.”
It was said to involve a scheme where thousands of farmers and applicants obtained funding on false grounds, but the Greek Payment and Control Agency for Community Aid Schemes (OPEKEPE) reported that only €400,000 ($419,149) is under investigation, with many applicants reimbursing funds or never receiving payments.
Agriculture Minister Kostas Tsiaras ordered more audits and is working on new legislation to map out agricultural pasture lands. The news site reported that since 2017, Greek citizens received agricultural subsidies for pastures they neither owned nor leased, or for farming activities that never took place.
Greece has over 6,000 islands, about 250 of which are inhabited. Only around 80 islands have more than 100 residents. Due to this geographic setup, the country barely has a well-registered cadastre, and the central government in Athens has little oversight and control over local (agricultural) activities. This also applies to tax collection. This was also the case in 2010 when the Greek debt crisis emerged, revealing that Athens had provided incorrect or falsified data to Brussels for years.
Authorities now say they have found over 16,000 tax IDs linked to irregular claims and have verified 7,786 for review, with 1,497 under judicial supervision and financial police investigating another 2,767.
An EU report states that the investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) focuses not only on fraudulent beneficiaries but also on possible involvement of officials from the Greek organization responsible for distributing agricultural subsidies.
Most suspicious applications came from Crete, which in 2020 received two-thirds of Greece’s total agricultural subsidies. In some cases, beneficiaries even received subsidies for land outside Greece.
The EPPO has been investigating the case since 2021 and has already brought seventy cases before Greek courts. In the city of Rethymno, convicted individuals have received sentences ranging from 12 to 24 months imprisonment.
In another case, a former official of the Ministry of Rural Development and his family are accused of claiming EU subsidies for 450 hectares of mountainous land near the Albanian border.