“Without substantial answers to the crucial questions that were put to it in the Commission of Inquiry, the testimony of the witness Paraskevi Tycheropoulou“, ND sources say.

“It is characteristic that her testimony raised more questions than it resolved, as she moved along a line of personal justification, without clear explanations for her actions as his superior OKAY.

At the same time, Mrs. Tycheropoulou refused to give direct answers about the case of the 78-year-old from Kozani, for which the prosecutor is requesting a return of close to 1,000,000 euros. Initially he declared ignorance and then after questions from the ND rapporteur, Makarios Lazaridis, when he admitted that it was the same case, he insisted that he “paid well”!

She caused a sensation, that she tried to transfer the responsibility to official agents and appear as a victim, attributing the criticism she receives to “personal attacks”. Indicative is her reference that “Mr. Salata’s advanced age may have contributed to his being misled”, a phrase that shows a mood of personal disparagement.

At the same time, the witness, who is in close cooperation with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, chose to attribute the problems of OPEKEPE to everything that New Democracy has pointed out for years and the government is systematically working to correct.

Through the confidential report he submitted in 2020, he recognized that the minimum – often virtual or even zero – cost of renting the pastures, combined with the 21.5 euros per hectare awarded through the allocation of a national reserve, acts as the main incentive for the “hunting” of the so-called “joker” rights.

In addition, according to her, the phenomenon where many national reserve rights are gathered in “closed groups” of applications from specific regions or KYD, with the involvement of Agency employees, technical advisors and Declaration Reception Centers, was one of the main causes that led to the current case.

Essentially, Tycheropoulou herself confirmed the pathologies that over time undermined the operation of OPEKEPE and that the New Democracy government is trying to eliminate through institutional interventions, transparency in payments and strict controls. The system of virtual pastures, false declarations and closed circuits in the KYD are exactly what destroyed the farmer’s relationship of trust with the state. This is what we are fixing today.”