Most of the fraudulent subsidies went to the island of Crete, where the family of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been politically influential for over a century.
Three Greek cabinet members resigned on Friday in a growing EU farm subsidy scandal that has put pressure on the country’s conservative government.
The ministers of agriculture and civil protection resigned as well as a deputy health minister. The government spokesperson is due to make an announcement on a reshuffle.
European prosecutors were probing an increasing number of Greece’s ruling party politicians for potentially skimming EU farm subsidies, widening an almost year-long scandal that has heaped pressure on the government.
Mitsotakis, who has stressed that the fraud began before he came to power in 2019, has vowed to imprison the “thieves” responsible and to reclaim the funds.
The EU’s European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) accused beneficiaries, some of them not even farmers, of making claims for land that they did not own and exaggerating the number of animals on farms.
There were a string of raids and arrests last October and protests from farmers who had their legitimate subsidies held up.
The so-called breeders and farmers claimed subsidies for pastureland they did not own or lease, including land on archaeological sites, military airports, and even in neighboring North Macedonia.
Suspects falsified animal counts to maximize payments from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The scheme allegedly involved the payment agency that distributes the funds (OPEKEPE) and political figures who manipulated digital systems to bypass oversight.
OPEKEPE was closed and the Independent Authority for Public Revenue is now in charge of distributing subsidies to farmers.
More than 100 suspects have been brought to court, with dozens of arrests made in Crete and across Greece.
The investigation concerns instigation of breach of trust, computer fraud and false attestation with the intent to obtain for another an unlawful benefit.
