A major political scandal surrounding Greece's agricultural payments agency (OPEKEPE) has intensified, with a leaked email from its former president directly implicating top aides to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Vangelis Simandrakos, who led the agency from 2022 to 2023, claims he was forced to resign in late 2023 after refusing to approve subsidy payments to over 9,000 ineligible applicants, a move that has ignited accusations of a high-level cover-up and cronyism.
The allegations are detailed in a recent email from Simandrakos to the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), which is already investigating the agency for potential misuse of EU funds. According to a report in the newspaper Efimerida ton Syntakton, Simandrakos had blocked payments to 9,309 VAT numbers (AFMs) deemed ineligible for payment. Notably, 63% of these cases originated from Crete, the political stronghold of the then-Minister of Agriculture, Lefteris Avgenakis. Simandrakos asserts that following this action, he was pressured into resigning in a December 2023 meeting with three of the Prime Minister's closest advisors: Giannis Bratako, Stavros Papastavrou, and Makis Voridis.
The revelation has provided explosive ammunition for Greece's opposition parties, who are now collectively demanding a full parliamentary preliminary inquiry into what they describe as a systemic rot reaching the highest levels of government. Leaders from SYRIZA, PASOK, KKE, and New Left have accused the Mitsotakis government of orchestrating a "well-oiled mechanism" of corruption and cover-up. New Left leader Alexis Charitsis bluntly stated, "Mr. Mitsotakis is the deep state," rejecting the Prime Minister's attempts to frame the issue as a chronic failure of the Greek bureaucracy.
Opposition leaders have escalated their rhetoric, framing the scandal as a direct assault on democracy. SYRIZA President Sokratis Famellos accused the ruling New Democracy party of orchestrating a "cash-for-votes" scheme to "alter the 2023 election result." He argues that the illegal channelling of funds to favoured regions was a deliberate strategy, not a mere administrative error. The opposition narrative claims that after Simandrakos was forced out, his successor promptly released the blocked funds, completing what they call a corrupt circle of political patronage and clientelism.
The government is facing a continuous barrage of criticism in parliament and the media. Opposition parties have vowed to utilize all available parliamentary tools to investigate not only the ministers directly implicated, such as Voridis and Avgenakis, but also to ascertain the extent of knowledge and involvement within the Prime Minister's office. As the EPPO's investigation continues, with reports of further case files potentially on their way, the OPEKEPE scandal is rapidly evolving from an administrative issue into a profound political crisis, challenging the core of the Mitsotakis government's authority and its narrative of effective governance.
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