“I don’t have a Ferrari, only a motorbike,” testified before the parliamentary committee of inquiry on OPEKEPE, among other things, the former ND candidate, Kalliopi (Popi) Semertzidou, who became known from posts with a Ferrari that she published on social media, stressing that “I didn’t know that I had to get a license to drive my partner’s vehicle.”
Ms. Semertzidou, who is under investigation for €1.5 million in illegal subsidies (and for €1.9 million her partner, who will testify next week), claimed that she “may” have made money from lottery tickets and games of chance (a known method of laundering black money), but she does not remember when, as the amounts were small.
She said that she has been a farmer since 2017 and that she cultivates about 350 stremmas, while regarding the amount being investigated by the Authority for Combating Black Money, she said that these are suspicions that have not been proven.
Yesterday, 14 defendants (mainly from Crete) were found guilty of illegal subsidies, with the sentences ranging from 10 to 18 months with a 3-year suspension.
At the same time, of the 250 persons whose accounts and assets the authorities “froze,” only 10 asked for clarifications from the Financial Police, and of those none has returned money to OPEKEPE’s funds.
One of the reasons for this is the current legislation, which does not allow the discontinuation of criminal prosecution of offenders who return the money they illegally received. This possibility had been left open by competent officials at the start of the audit process, says “Kathimerini.”
Sources: Καθημερινή 1, 2, News247
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