OPEKEPE is Greece’s Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid, responsible for managing and monitoring payments made under the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy.

The four MPs charged are Kostas Skrekas, Christos Boukoros, Maximos Senetakis and Katerina Papakosta. The alleged offences are misdemeanours and relate exclusively to acts committed in 2021.

Skrekas, Boukoros and Senetakis face charges, as applicable, of inciting breaches of trust and the unlawful management of EU funds. Papakosta faces additional charges of inciting false certification and attempted fraud involving an information system.

If convicted, the defendants could face prison sentences of up to five years, as well as financial penalties under Greek law.

Alleged interference in subsidy controls

According to the EPPO, its investigations uncovered recurring patterns of corruption in the administration of agricultural funding provided under the Common Agricultural Policy.

The evidence allegedly points to unlawful interference in administrative procedures and inspections, changes to data after mandatory checks had been completed, interference in on-site inspections, the concealment or alteration of inspection findings and the issuance of false certificates.

The EPPO has also brought charges against a former president of OPEKEPE over five alleged breaches of trust, a former director general of Direct Aid over two alleged breaches of trust and two former regional directors of the agency over breaches of trust and the unlawful management of EU funds.

Other defendants include an employee in the political office of a sitting MP, an associate of a former minister, a state veterinarian and several recipients of agricultural subsidies.

They face misdemeanour charges including subsidy fraud, attempted fraud involving an information system and false certification in public documents. Some are also accused of inciting offences allegedly committed by senior public officials.

Charges dropped against nine politicians

On 24 April 2026, the Greek parliament approved a request from the European Chief Prosecutor to lift the parliamentary immunity of 11 sitting MPs, allowing the EPPO to investigate alleged offences committed in 2021 and examine both incriminating and exculpatory evidence.

The EPPO has now dropped the cases against seven of those MPs due to insufficient evidence. They are Yiannis Kefalogiannis, Kostas Tsiaras, Notis Mitarakis, Dimitris Vartzopoulos, Theofilos Leontaridis, Vassilis Vasiliadis and Kostas Karamanlis.

Proceedings against two former MPs have also been dropped for the same reason.

The EPPO said that ‘all available evidence was examined objectively and impartially, with equal weight given to both incriminating and exculpatory evidence’.

Investigations involving other individuals, including three former MPs, remain under way. Separate investigations are also continuing into alleged offences committed in other years.

The EPPO said it would not release further information at this stage to avoid jeopardising the pending proceedings.

All those charged are presumed innocent unless and until found guilty by a final ruling of the competent Greek courts.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office is the independent prosecutorial body of the European Union responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to trial crimes affecting the EU’s financial interests.

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