Seven cases of irregularities in the receipt of aid were verified by OPEKEPE

OPEKEPE (Organization for Payments and Control of Community Aids Orientation and Guarantees) continues the intensive controls regarding the artificial creation of conditions for receiving aid and found violations.

Specifically, according to the press release issued by the organization, “from applicants for allocation of national reserve rights for the years 2020 and 2021, strong indications and evidence of irregularities have emerged for seven applicants (7).

The specific cases are already in the hands of the prosecutor, with a relevant report from the president of OPEKEPE, Mr. Simandrakos.

According to what the organization mentions, the persons included in the report, carrying out circular leases of land between them for a period of 4 years and all declaring exclusively “pasture cultivation in good agricultural condition” i.e. submitting an application for support for pasture land without animals, collected in 2020, a total of 410,722.84 euros and one (1) of them, in 2021, 54,430.13 euros.

During the on-the-spot check, it was found that the eligibility conditions of the declared crop were not met. From the geospatial control of pasture areas, it was found that significant areas of those declared by the 7 applicants had been allocated as public pastures in the technical solutions of the previous years 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

For 4 applicants, the declared pasture lands are found in the Land Registry posting for 2020 to belong to the State and for one, the lands were also found to belong to the State in 2021.

While all circular leases are multi-year, four-year duration, from 1-10.1.2020 to 31.12.2024, 6 out of 7 did not submit a Single Application for Aid (A.E.A.) after 2020, despite the significant aid they received as new entrants for EAE 2020.

None of the owners produced strong legal documents to prove ownership of the declared plots, despite the circular leases they had signed.

OPEKEPE states that the protection of agricultural funds and transparency in the payment of community aid is a first priority for the organization. The checks of the legal possession and use of the plots of land for receiving the aid, as OPEKEPE notes, are now carried out in many regions of the country and with the use of data from the Land Registry.

In closing, OPEKEPE points out that the irregularities concern a very small minority of producers, while the producers who follow the legal procedures and are the majority of producers, do not have to worry about anything regarding the payment of their subsidies.

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