“Everything seems to be fine in OPEKEPE by the Director of Internal Audits, Stavroula Kourmendza, based on her today’s testimony to the OPEKEPE investigation committee,” say PASOK sources and add: “Despite the seriousness of the questions raised before her, Ms. Kourmendza avoided answering substantively critical issues that touch on the transparency, legitimacy and operation of OKAY. Ms. Kourmendza refused to answer a question from PASOK MPs whether she considers the OPEKEPE case a scandal, as the European Prosecutor, Ms. Kovesi has characterized it, saying characteristically “there are small and big scandals” avoiding to answer the substance even though she has a lot of experience, as she has worked for OPEKEPE for over 20 years and is, as she said, “the heavy artillery of controls”.
As the sources of the official opposition state, “Regarding questions concerning her relationship with the former President of the Organization, Mr. Babasidis, she stated that they have “a relationship of appreciation and respect that is hardly friendly”, despite the fact that, as can be seen from the legal attachments, they speak with characteristic ease. She herself called him her “boss”. Regarding the disputed e-mail with a TIN withholding order on the last day of payments in October 2025, without comprehensive checks it revealed that TINs have indeed been paid, which, however, are few, so the harm is small. The questions about uncontrolled payments and unpaid producers also remained unanswered, as he did not clarify whether similar phenomena had occurred in the previous months and whether producers were paid without checks, while in every way he tried to eliminate the responsibilities of the technical advisor”.
The PASOK sources also say that “Ms. Kurmendza was constantly contradicting herself in her testimony. On the one hand, he said that he does not know the families of Papadakis and Grylos, on the other hand, he seems to be talking on the phone specifically about the checks on these families. On the one hand, he seems to state that Mr. Babasidis was not receiving a subsidy, on the other hand, he seems to be talking on the phone about his own acres. Finally, the targeting of Mrs. Tycheropoulou whom she accused in a series of her answers when she was dealing with Mrs. Tycheropoulou’s court case, proposing witnesses and showing anxiety about the course of the lawsuit filed against her, is typical. Ms. Kourmenza’s refusal to answer the dozens of questions reinforces the sense of non-transparency and methods in OPEKEPE. Her attempt to convince the thousands of farmers that everything is working like clockwork in OPEKEPE is belied by reality” PASOK sources conclude
Source: Skai
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