The Three-Member Misdemeanor Court of Athens handed down very severe sentences to two former top executives of OPEKEPE, finding them guilty of misconduct regarding the audits of agricultural subsidies and the handling of the so-called «Tycheropoulou report.».
Specifically, the organization’s former president and New Democracy politician, Dimitris Melas, and the former head of the Direct Aid & Market and Technical Works Directorates, Athanasia Reppa, were sentenced to a prison sentence of five years and eight months everyone.
Charges and Upgrading to a Felony
The court unanimously found the two defendants guilty of the misdemeanors of harboring a criminal and of breach of duty, as they failed to forward the critical audit findings to the competent prosecuting authorities.
However, the legal proceedings also include a significant twist: the court upgraded the classification of the offense of embezzlement of a document by a public employee to a felony, as the material damage caused is estimated to exceed 120,000 euros. For this reason, the Misdemeanor Court declared that it lacked jurisdiction over the matter and referred this specific aspect of the case to be tried by the Three-Member Court of Appeal for Criminal Cases.
In the court’s reasoning, the presiding judge emphasized that in 2018 there was a striking and suspicious increase in the number of grazing lands, with strong indications of systematic fraud and the illegal diversion of funds to producers. Although the organization’s then-president, Gr. Varras, had ordered an audit—on the basis of which the report was drafted by Paraskevi Tycheropoulou—the two defendants, despite being fully aware of the findings, failed to act as they should have.
Mitigating Factors, Suspension, and Restrictive Conditions
The court, by a majority vote (2-1), granted the defendants the mitigating factor of their previous law-abiding conduct, despite the presiding prosecutor’s recommendation to the contrary. The prosecutor had requested that the mitigating factors be rejected, emphasizing that the defendants «harbored 80 criminals on a daily basis for a period of 20 months,» causing an international outcry that damaged the country’s credibility at the European level.
At the same time, the court decided to grant suspensive effect on the appeal to both convicted individuals, rejecting the prosecutor’s recommendation for immediate imprisonment (who had alternatively proposed strict measures, such as a 100,000-euro bond and a ban on employment in the public sector).
However, a restrictive condition was imposed on Mela and Reppa, namely that ban on leaving the country, which will remain in effect until the Court of Appeals rules on the felony charge of document theft.
Involvement of the European Public Prosecutor's Office
The decision is expected to cause further turmoil, as the court ordered the transmission of the trial transcripts to the European Public Prosecutor's Office. The goal is to make use of the evidence gathered to expand the investigations into the activities of the Centers for the Reception of Declarations (KYD), OPEKEPE officials, and the political leadership at the time.
