‘The announcement by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office reveals the true scale and the full truth about OPEKEPE,’ Mitsotakis said, adding that 13 New Democracy ministers and MPs had been targeted, nine of whom had proved to be ‘completely innocent’.

He said investigations into the remaining four would continue over ‘simple misdemeanours’, downplaying the seriousness of the charges.

The prime minister referred to his decision to seek the resignations of three ministers ‘for reasons of propriety’ when the scandal first emerged. He claimed that ‘honest politicians were slandered for weeks’ and accused the opposition of rushing to describe New Democracy as ‘a government of defendants’ without respecting the presumption of innocence.

‘Who will apologise today for those atrocities?’ he asked.

Mitsotakis also turned his criticism on the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, claiming that it had ‘appeared to become involved in internal party competition’.

The statement amounts to a serious accusation against the independence of the European institution responsible for investigating and prosecuting crimes affecting the EU’s financial interests.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office has announced criminal proceedings against 22 defendants in the OPEKEPE case, including four sitting New Democracy MPs.

Government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis has said there is no reason why the four should not stand as candidates in future elections, citing the presumption of innocence.

The four MPs face the following misdemeanour charges:

  • Kostas Skrekas, Christos Boukoros and Maximos Senetakis face charges, as applicable, of incitement to breach of trust and incitement to the unlawful management of EU funds
  • Katerina Papakosta additionally faces charges of incitement to false certification and attempted computer fraud.

According to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, the evidence against seven other sitting MPs was insufficient to bring charges and their cases were therefore closed.

They are Yiannis Kefalogiannis, Kostas Tsiaras, Notis Mitarakis, Dimitris Vartzopoulos, Theofilos Leontarides, Vassilis Vasiliadis and Kostas Karamanlis.

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