The former president of OPEKEPE, Evangelos Simandrakos, testified as a witness in the trial of two former senior officials of the organization: another former president, Dimitris Melas, and the former Director of Technical Controls, Athanasia Reppa. They are accused of misdemeanors (document removal, harboring an offender, and breach of duty) related to the disappearance of critical documents.
He testified that he resigned because he was subjected to “intense pressure through the media” from the then Minister of Rural Development, Lefteris Avgenakis, who made public statements in the media in a manner that “was offensive” to him.
He spoke of pressure from the political leadership regarding payment issues, alleging that he frequently received phone calls requesting that specific blocked tax identification numbers (AFMs) be cleared for payment, adding that “we all understood that pressure was being exerted.” He also noted strong internal resistance within the organization to efforts to tighten controls, χαρακτηριστικά stating that “very few wanted change.”
European Chief Prosecutor Laura Kövesi announced that new case files are expected to be opened concerning matters related to the OPEKEPE scandal.
He described extensive indications of irregularities in subsidy allocations, citing as an example the excessive increase in livestock numbers in Crete: “Αfter 2018–2019, the animals became more numerous than the flies.” He also argued that “it is impossible that any minister did not know,” emphasizing that the situation was obvious.
He also referred to cases of blocked AFMs with findings pointing to fraud, which, as he said, should have been immediately referred to the judiciary: “if the evidence was obvious, I would not conduct further checks.”
Finally, he stated that he sought to escalate the matter to the highest level by requesting a meeting with the Prime Minister’s office. As he testified, “I did not want to leave so easily, because I believed I was right,” and therefore “I requested a hearing from the Prime Minister’s office,” sending a relevant letter.
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